UMBELLIFERAE (PARSLEY FAMILY) 307 
blisters. Flowers white, occasionally purplish, the flattened com- 
pound umbel sometimes a foot broad ; individual flowers often more 
than a quarter-inch broad, particularly the enlarged outer ones, with 
the five petals notched at the outer edge; involucre deciduous. 
Carpels obovate, nearly a half-inch long, flattened, with winged 
margin and notched apex, the oil-tubes extending only part way 
down the sides. The weed is dangerous to cattle, when growing 
about their drinking places, at the time of starting shoots in spring ; 
later they avoid it. (Fig. 213.) . 
Means of control 
The plant is persistent because of its large root, which needs to 
be grubbed out or deeply cut and treated with dry salt or kerosene. 
WILD CARROT 
Daticus Caréta, L. 
Other English names: Queen Anne’s Lace, Bird’s Nest Weed, 
Devil’s Plague. 
Introduced. Biennial. Propagates by seeds. 
Time of bloom: June to September. 
Seed-time: August to December. 
Range: Throughout North America except the far North. 
Habitat: All soils; meadows, pastures, roadsides, and waste places. 
This plant is said to be the progenitor of the cultivated carrot, 
but its long, tapering root has none of the succulent sweetness 
which careful selection and cultivation has given to its descend- 
ants; on the contrary, it is filled with woody fibers, acrid to taste 
and said to be poisonous. Only a crown of green leaves is pro- 
duced the first season; these are twice or thrice pinnate, the 
segments lance-shaped and toothed, giving the plant a fine, feathery 
appearance; petioles long, slender, swollen at base, grooved on 
the upper side; the leaves are rough-hairy, have an unpleasant 
odor when bruised, and their acrid juices protect them from grazing 
animals. Flower-stalks appear the second year, one to three feet 
tall, erect, slender, branching, bristly with stiff hairs, bearing few, 
sessile, and clasping leaves; flowers clustered, in large, flat, com- 
pound umbels, white, except that*there is usually one in the center 
