' HOLLOW CROWN 453 



serrate margins ; the terminal leaflet is three-lobed. The upper 

 surfaces of the leaflets are smooth, the lower surfaces soft and 

 hairy. 



Inflorescence and Flowers. — The inflorescence is a com- 

 pound umbel without bracts or bracteoles. The flowers are 

 epigynous : calyx superior, of five very small teeth : corolla of 

 five small, bright yellow incurved petals : andrcecium of five 

 stamens : gynseciura syncarpous, of two carpels, dorsally com- 

 pressed with a broad commissure : each carpel has five primary 

 ridges, the two marginal ones forming wing-like projections. 



Fruit. — The fruit is a dorsally compressed schizocarp ; the 

 mericarps are thin and flat, of oval or circular outline, six dark 

 brown vittas reaching not quite to the base, are visible on 

 each, four on the dorsal, and two on the inner (commissure) 

 side. The fruit has a divided carpophore. Within each mericarp 

 is a single flat, endospermous olive-green seed. 



Varieties. — There are comparatively few varieties of this 

 'root.' Those cultivated as food for cattle are generally long- 

 rooted varieties resembling the long carrots in shape. 



The only two common varieties are (i) the Laxge Cattle 

 Parsnip, which has the upper part of the ' root ' rounded or con- 

 vex, and (2) the ' Hollow Crown,' which has a slightly shorter 

 and thicker depressed or concave ' top'. 



A form met with in gardens having a relatively very short 

 thick ' root ' is known as the ' Turnip-rooted ' parsnip. 



Soil, Cultivation and Sowing. — Parsnips can be grown on 

 soil usually too stiff for a good crop of carrots, but the cultivation 

 and general management needed for the latter is appropriate for 

 the parsnip. 



The ' seed ' is best sown in M^rch, an earlier date than that 

 adapted to the carrot, at the rate of about 6 or 7 lbs. per acre. 

 Less seed would suffice if new, but commercial samples are 

 usually very poor in germinating capacity and nearly always 

 mixed with old dead seed. 



