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DAUCUS CAROTA. 
Wild Carrot.* 
Class Pentamdria. — Order Digynia. 
Nat. Ord. Umbellatze, Linn. Umbellifer^, Juss. 
Gen. Char. Flowers separated. Petals inversely heart- 
shaped, unequal. Fruit hispid. 
Spec. Char. Siemhr\st]y. Leaues tripinnate. Leaflets }^'m- 
natifid, with linear-lanceolate acute segments. Involucre 
nearly as long as the rays of the umbel. Fruit bristly. 
The Daucus CAROTAf is a native biennial plant, flowering in 
June and July, and generally found growing by the sides of fields 
and pastures; thriving best on light chalky and gravelly soils: pro- 
vincially it is called bird's nest, or bee's nest, from the resemblance 
the umbels form as they approach to maturity, to a bird's nest. 
The root of the wild carrot is spindle-shaped, fleshy, externally of 
a yellowish colour, (the roots of the cultivated species, which by 
most botanists is reckoned a variety only of the wild, is so well 
known as to need no description) ; the wild carrot rises to the height 
of about two feet, erect, round, hairy, furrowed, and branched; the 
leaves are alternate, bipimiate, and stand upon broad footstalks, 
hairy, especially on the under side, and of a dark green ; the umbels 
terminate the branches, are composed of several radii, and form 
a flat surface at the top while in flower, but as the seeds ripen, the 
external rays become incurved and drawn together, which renders 
the inner surface of the umbel hollow, giving the character of a 
bird's nest, (hence the provincial name) the partial umbels are 
similar to those of the general : the general involucre consists of 
many pinnatifid leaves shorter than the umbel, the partial ones 
undivided or 3-cleft ; the corolla is composed of five unequal petals ; 
the five filaments are capillary and furnished with simple antherae ; 
the germen is small and supports two reflected styles, crowned by 
* Fig. a. represents a cutting with tbe umbel in flowers, b. In seed. c. The top 
part of a root. d. A magnified blossom, e. The germen. /. A ripe seed, 
t Nine gpecies of the Genus Daucus are known and cultivated. Hort. Cant. 
