CULTIVATED CARROT 



447 



as it is in the former that the greatest amount of sugar and 

 other nutrient materials is stored. 



The wood in the first season of growth contains no fibres or 

 fibrous cells, but consists mainly of thin walled unlignified 

 vessels and delicate wide-celled wood-parenchyma. Narrow 

 medullary rays are visible. In the second season and in 

 ' bolted ' carrots which have run to 

 seed in the first season, the wood last 

 produced by the cambium-ring {c) be- 

 comes strongly lignified and fibrous by 

 the time that flowering commences. 



Stem and Leaves. — During the first 

 season of growth the carrot stores up 

 reserve food in its thickened root and 

 hypocotyl; the epicotyledonary por- 

 tion of the stem remains short until 

 the second season, when the terminal 



Fig. i36.-:-(i) Longitudinal ; (2) transverse section of carrot 'root,' showing disposition 

 of tissues, rf Thin-walled parenchymatous bast and secondary cortex ; a wood ('core')* 

 c cambium-ring ; r secondary root. 



bud sends forth a furrowed, somewhat bristly, solid stem 2 or 

 3 feet high with spreading branches. 



The radical leaves have long petioles ; all are bipinnate with 

 deeply pinnatisect leaflets, the ultimate segments being small 

 and narrow. 



Inflorescence and Flowers, — The inflorescence is a com- 



