198 
POPULAE SCIENCE EEVIEW. 
for Pliny tells ns that parsnips were cultivated on the hanks 
of the Phine^ and were brought from thence to suppl}’ the 
tables of the Poman emperors. 
The stem of the parsnip is herbaceous, upright, and fur- 
rowed ; the leaves pinnate, sheathing the stem at the base, and 
composed of oval, slightly lobed and incised leaflets. The 
flowers are small, yellow, and disposed in umbels, the fruit 
dividing into two seed-like pieces, as is usual with umbelli- 
ferous plants. The root of the wild plant is spindle-shaped, 
sweet and mucilaginous, but nevertheless somewhat woody, 
and with a slight degree of acrimony which it loses by culti- 
vation. In the wild plant the leaves are downy, but when 
cultivated they become smooth. 
The parsnip is one of the hardiest plants of the kitchen 
garden, as it remains uninjured in the severest weather ; indeed, 
by many, the parsnip is not esteemed until it has been frost- 
bitten. There is generally a great consumption of parsnips in 
Catholic countries along with the salt-fish eaten during Lent. 
The Carrot {Daucus carota, L.). — The wild form of this plant 
is found plentifully in Europe and in Great Britain, where it is 
indigenous, and in the United States, where it has been exten- 
sively naturalized. Although the large root is wanting in the 
wild variet}^, yet there is little else to distinguish it from the 
cultivated species, for the leaves, flowers, and even the fruit of 
the wild carrot are exactly similar to that of the cultivated plant. 
The carrot is a biennial, with a stem rising to a height of 
two feet, leaves compound pinnatifid, flowers white, succeeded 
by rough hispid seed-vessels, the supporting stalks of which 
are inflected inwardly, so that the cluster of compact umbels 
does not look unlike a bird^s nest. The root of the wild plant 
is white, dry, woody, and strongly flavoured. Cultivated, the 
root becomes succulent, and of a red-yellow or pale stray/ colour, 
showing, in a remarkable way, the improvement which may be 
effected by cultivation. 
The carrot was cultivated at a very early epoch even by the 
Greeks and Bomans. The cultivated garden variety has been 
most probably derived from the wild form. It is difficult to 
say how its nutritive character was discovered. We know, 
however, by the experiments of M. Yilmorin, that the wild 
carrot sown in good land becomes similar to the cultivated 
species at the end of some generations ; and, inversely, that 
the cultivated carrot returns to the wild form, if planted in bad 
land, in the course of a few generations. 
The Celery graveolens, L.). — This plant is a hardy 
biennial, indigenous to Great Britain and different parts of 
Europe ; it has even been found by Hooker in the southern 
hemisphere, and by ETuttall, in California. Wild celery grows 
