PARSLEY FAMIL\ 



UMBELLIFERAE 



WILD CARROT 



Daucus Carota L. 



The Wild Carrot is a native of Asia and Europe, having been 

 introduced into this country from the latter. It is often called 

 Queen Anne's Lace and many farmers would be better pleased 



if Queen Anne had kept her lace 

 at home, for this plant has be- 

 come a pernicious weed in many 

 places. Nevertheless it adds 

 immensely to the beauty of many 

 a wayside for it is very pretty. 



It is usually biennial and its 

 slender branching stems grow 1-3 

 feet high. Stems and leaf petioles 

 usually bear short scattered 

 bristly hairs. The root is white, 

 fleshy and somewhat similar to 

 that of the cultivated Carrot, 

 which originated from this wild 

 species. The leaves are yellowish 

 green and the lower are very 

 much cut and divided. 



The plant begins blooming in 

 June and continues until the 

 frosts of autumn. The involucre 

 below the compound umbel is 

 composed of several leaflike, pin- 

 nately divided bracts, whereas the involucel below each um- 

 bellet consists of several entire or toothed bracts. The flowers 

 vary from white to rose or pale yellow, and often i sessile flower 

 in the center of each cluster is dark purple. There are no calyx 

 teeth, I petal is usually larger than the other 4, and the tips of 

 all petals are turned in. In the outermost flowers of a cluster 

 the petals are often enlarged and i or more may be 2-lobed. 

 There are 5 minute stamens with yellow anthers. The prickly 

 fruit is oblong, -flattened dorsally, and with each halt (carpel) of 

 the pistil bearing one seed. Each carpel has 5 slender bristly 

 primary ribs and 4 winged secondary ribs, each of the latter 

 bearing a single row of barbed prickles. 



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