CAR 
than almoft any deciduous tree. It is as hardy as 
any of the forts, and may be propagated in the 
fame manner ; but at prefent it is rare in the Englifh 
nurferies. 
CARROTS. See Daucus. 
CARTHAMUS. Lin. Gen. Plant. 838. [fo called 
of 7ta$a{piv> Gr. to purge, becaufe the feeds of it 
are purging,] Ballard Saffron, or Safflower in, French; 
Cartame , ou Saffran Batard. 
The Characters are, 
It hath a flower compofed of fever al hermaphrodite florets , 
included in one common fcaly empalement. 'The fcales are 
compofed of many flat leaves , broad at their bafe , ending 
in a fpine , and fpread open below. The florets are funnel- 
jhaped , of one leaf , cut into five equal fegments at the top ; 
thefe have five fhort hairy flaniina , terminated by cy- 
lindrical tubular fimmits ; in the center is fituated a floort 
germen, fiipporting a flender Jlyle the length of the flaniina , 
crowned by a Jingle ftigma. The germen afterward becomes 
a Jingle , oblong , angular feed , inclofed in the empalement. 
This genus of plants is ranged in the firft feCtion of 
Linnaeus’s nineteenth clafs, intitled Syngenefia Po- 
lygamia iEqualis ; the flowers of this fedlion being 
compofed of only fruitful florets, and their lummits 
are connected in form of a cylindrical tube. 
The Species are, 
1. Carthamus ( Tinblorius ) foliis ovatis integris ferrato- 
aculeatis. Hort. Cliff. 394. Baftard Saffron with oval 
entire leaves , which have fpiny ferratures. Carthamus 
officinarum, flore croceo. Tourn. Inft. 457. Baftard 
Saffron of the J hops , with a Saffron-coloured flower . 
2. Carthamus ( Lanatus ) caule pilofo fuperne lanato, 
foliis inferioribus pinnatifidis, fummis amplexicauli- 
bus dentatis. Hort. Upfal. 251. Carthamus with a 
hairy ftalk , woolly above , the under leaves indented , and 
the upper embracing the ftalk. AtraCtylis lutea. C. B. P. 
Tellow Diftaff Thiftlc. 
3. Carthamus ( Creticus ) caule laeviufculo, calycibus 
fublanatis, flofculis fubnovenis, foliis inferioribus ly- 
ratis, fummis amplexicaulibus dentatis. Lin. Sp. 1163. 
Carthamus with a fmooth ftalk , woolly empalement s , ge- 
nerally nine florets , the under leaves lyre-Jhaped , and the 
upper embracing the ftalk. Cnicus Creticus AtraCtylidis 
folio & facie, flore leucophaeo. Tourn. Cor. 33. 
4. Carthamus ( Tingitanus ) foliis radicalibus pinnatis, 
caulinis pinnatifidis, caule unifloro. Lin. Sp. 1163. 
Carthamus whofe radical leaves are winged , thofe on the 
ftalks wing-pointed , and one flower on a ftalk. Cnicus 
perennis casruleus Tingitanus. H. L. 162. Blue pe- 
rennial Cnicus of Tangier. 
5. Carthamus ( Carduncellus ) foliis caulinis linearibus 
pinnatis longitudine plante. Lin. Sp. Plant. 831. 
Carthamus with narrow winged leaves on the ftalks , 
which are as long as the plant. Cnicus cseruleus hu- 
milis Montis Lupi. tj. L. Dwarf Cnicus of Mount 
Lupus with a blue flower. 
6. Carthamus ( Cseruleus ) foliis lanceolatis fpinofo-den- 
tatis, caule fubunifloro. Hort. Cliff. 1163. Carthamus 
with fpear-fhaped leaves prickly indented , and one flower 
on each ftalk. Cnicus caeruleus afperior. C. B. P. 378. 
Rougher blue Cnicus. 
7. Carthamus ( Arbor efcens ) foliis enfiformibus finuato- 
dentatis. Prod. Leyd. 136. Carthamus with fword- 
Jhaped leaves which are Jinuated and indented. Cnicus 
Hifpanicus arborefcens fcetidiffimus. Tourn. Inft. 451. 
Stinking Jhrubby Cnicus of Spain. 
8. Carthamus ( Corymbofus ) floribus umbellatis nume- 
rous. Carthamus with many flowers in umbels. Chame- 
leon niger umbellatus, flore casruleo hyacinthino. 
C, B. P. 380. Black umbellated Chameleon with blue 
flowers. 
The firft fort grows naturally in Egypt, and in fome 
of the warm parts of Afia. I have frequently re- 
ceived the feeds of this from the Britifh iflands in 
America, but whether they were originally carried 
thither, or if it grows naturally there, I could never 
be rightly informed. It is at prefent cultivated in 
many parts of Europe, and alfo in the Levant, from 
whence great quantities of Safflower are annually im- 
ported to England, for dyeing and painting. 
GAR 
This is an annual plant, which rifes with a ftiff lig- 
neous ftalk two feet and a half, or three feet high, 
dividing upward into many branches, which are gar- 
niflied with oval pointed leaves, fitting clofe to the 
branches : thefe are entire, and are flightly fawed on 
their edges, each tooth being terminated by a fhort 
fpine. The flowers grow Angle at the extremity of 
each branch : the heads of flowers are large, inclofed 
in a fcaly empalement ; each fcale is broad at the 
bafe, flat, and formed like a leaf of the plant, ter- 
minating in a fharp fpine. The lower part of the 
empalement fpreads open, but the fcales above clofely 
embrace the florets, which ftand out near an inch 
above the empalement ; thefe are of a fine Saffron 
colour, and this is the part which is gathered for the 
ufes above-mentioned. When the florets decay, the 
germen which is fituated in each, become Angle, 
oblong, angular feeds, of a white colour, and have 
a pretty ftrong (hell or cover to them. It flowers in 
July and Auguft, and the feeds ripen in autumn; but 
if the feafon proves cold and moift, when the plants 
are in flower, there will be no good feeds produced ; 
fo that there are few feafons, wherein the feeds of this 
plant do come to perfection in England. 
.The feeds of this plant are fometimes ufed in me- 
dicine, and are accounted a pretty ftrong cathartic, 
but at prefent they are feldom prefcribed. It is pro- 
pagated by feeds, which fhould be fown in April, 
upon a bed of light earth : the bed way is to fow them 
in drills, drawn at two feet and a half diftance from 
each other, in which the feeds fhould be fcattered 
thinly, for the plants muft not ftand nearer each 
other than a foot in the rows; but as fome of the 
feeds will fail, fo a greater quantity fhould be fown, 
as it will be eafy to thin the plants, at the time when 
the ground is hoed. If the feeds are good, the 
plants will appear in lefs than a month ; and in a 
fortnight or three weeks after, it will be proper to 
hoe the ground to deftroy the weeds, and at the 
fame time the plants fhould be thinned where they 
are too clofe ; but at this time they fhould not be fe- 
parated to their full diftance, left fome of them fhould 
afterward fail ; fo that if they are now left fix inches 
afunder, there will be room enough for the plants to 
grow, till the next time of hoeing, when they muft: 
be thinned to the diftance they are to remain for good: 
after this they fhould have a third hoeing, which, if 
carefully performed in dry weather, will deftroy the 
weeds and make the ground clean, fo that the plants 
will require no farther care, till they come to flower; 
when, if the Safflower is intended for ufe, the florets 
fhould be cut off from the flowers as they come to 
perfection ; but this muft be performed when they 
are perfectly dry, and then they fhould be dried in a 
kiln, with a moderate fire, in the fame manner as 
the true Saffron, which will prepare the commodity 
for ufe. 
But if the plants are defigned for feed, the flowers 
muft not be gathered ; for if the florets, are cut off, 
it will render the feeds abortive, though they may 
fwell and grow to their ufual fize, as I have frequently 
experienced; yet when they are broken', there will be 
found nothing more than a fhell without any kernel. 
And this frequently happens to be the cafe with thefe 
feeds, in wet cold feafons ; though in very wet years 
the germen will rot, and never come fo forward as to 
form a fhell. 
I have been informed, that this plant was formerly 
cultivated in the fields in feveral parts of England, 
for the dyers ufe; and particularly in Gloucefterfliire, 
where the common people frequently gathered the 
florets, and dried them, to put into their puddings 
and cheefecakes, to give them a colour ; but fome by 
putting it in too great quantity, gave their puddings 
a cathartic quality. 
If this plant was ever cultivated here in great quan- 
tity, it is furprifing how it came to be fo totally ne- 
glected, as that at prefent, there are not the leaft 
traces to be met with, in any part of England, of its 
ever having been cultivated ; nor is the commodity 
C c c Larue 
