DaUCUS.] UMBELLIFER^. 215 



flat or convex in flower concave in fruit, general involucres shorter 

 than the flowering umbels simply pinnatifid the segments subu- 

 late, flowers partly imperfect, petals of the exterior flowers une- 

 qual, bristles of the fruit* with 1 or 2 simple spreading points. 

 Br. Fl. p. 178. E. B. t. 1174. 



Tn pastures, by roadsides and borders of fields ; one of the most common spe- 

 cies of its order. Fl. June — August. Fr. September, October. J . 



The root of the wild Carrot is long, white, tapering, simple or a little branched, 

 of a tough woody texture, and, except in its sweetish odour, quite unlike the 

 esteemed succulent it becomes under cultivation. Stem about 2 feet high, erect, 

 round, furrowed, with many upright branches, rough and hoary all over with 

 harsh bristly hairs. Leaves alternate, on broad, sheathing, ribbed petioles, bi- or 

 subtripinnate, hairy, their segments lanceolate or liuear-lanceolate, acute, cut, 

 bristle-pointed. Umbels at the end of the long leafless branches, 2 or 3 inches 

 broad, flat or a little convex before the fruit forms, after which the rather nume- 

 rous rays of the umbels and their umbellvles approximate, and curving inwards 

 form with the bristly fruit a hollow inverted cone, aptly compared to a bird's-nest, 

 whence its popular name. General involucre shorter than the fully flowering um- 

 bel, simple, of several pinnatifid mostly 3-cleft leaves, their segments very acute ; 

 partial of similar but smaller, mostly entire leaflets, with membranous edges, one 

 or two sometimes divided. Flovjers small, white, sometimes reddish. Petals 

 rather unequal, especially in the exterior flowers of the umbel, deeply notched and 

 inflexed. Stamens wanting or partly deficient, except in the interior flowers of 

 the urabellules, which are perfect. Styles erect, straight, spreading and reflexed 

 in fruit ; stigmas roundish. Exactly in the centre of each umbel there is usually 

 a ray, bearing a few involucral leaves under a dark red solitary flower, with styles 

 of the same colour, but only the rudiments of stamens, and not perfecting the 

 seed. Carpels (syndicarps) ovate ; hemicarps each with 4 rows of long spines 

 occupying the primaryf ridges, one pair lateral or marginal, the other 2 rows on 

 the face of the hemicarp, all in a single series, their points either minutely toothed 

 or bifurcate ; the 3 secondary}: or intermediate casta: armed with a double row of 

 small slender spines, spreading in opposite directions, and like the larger aculei 

 quite distinct to their base. 



That the present species is the origin of the garden Can'ot has been disputed 

 by some, on the ground that by cultivation the root acquires neither the colour 

 nor flavour of that esteemed vegetable, not considering that the qualities for which 

 the Can'ot is prized have been developed, by the skill and care of the horticultu- 

 rist, through successive ages, until the limits of perfection were attained, and per- 

 manency of improvement insured by propagation from seed of the stock so ame- 

 liorated. 



Mr. Bentham told me that a French botanist, whose name has escaped my 

 recollection, obtained a very good eatable Carrot after a few years' cultivation and 

 raising from seed of the wild plant. The culture of this valuable esculent as a 

 root-crop, and winter food for cows and horses, is not much attended to in this 

 island. Turnips being very generally used in their place. 



Very closely related to this (Z). Carota) is D. pusillus, Mx., of N. America, 

 which I have gathered abundantly in dry places at Charleston and Savannah. 

 That species difiers, however, materially, in its more erect branches, more finely 

 and deeply divided leaflets ; in its very compound, doubly or triply pinnatifid 

 involucres, which are about equal to the flowering umbel ; in its smaller umbels, 

 which are cupped or concave, both in blossom and seed ; in its minute flowers, 

 all of which, even to the central blossom, are perfect and isopetalous ; and, lastly, 



* For figures of the fruit, see Hook. Br. Fl. t. iv. fig. 12.; Leighton, Shropsh. 

 Fl. p. 126 ; Gaudin, Helv. ii. t. 3. 



f Secondary ridges, Koch, 



* Primary ridges, Koch. 



