368 
PENTANDRIA. DIGYNIA. Daucbs. 
Wild Carrot. Bird’s-nest. (Irish: Mioh Lucan . Welsh: Moronyn 
y meusydd; JVyth aderyn. Gaelic: Curan. In pastures, waste places, 
and borders of fields, not unfrequent. Salisbury Craigs. Grev. Edin. 
Abundant upon the Ness, and other situations on both sides of the river 
Teign, Devonshire. E.) B. June—Aug.* 
D. MARiT f iMUS. Angles of the seeds four large and three small: um¬ 
bels convex when in seed: (leafits dilated, fleshy, pinnatifid, 
with rounded segments. E.) 
(E. Bat. 2560. E.)—PI. XXXII. 
Boot a dirty white. Stem from one to two feet high, woolly and scored. 
Leaves hairy or rather woolly. Leafits slightly cloven, broad, rounded 
at the end, succulent, curled. Umbels white, convex, not cupped when 
in seed. Involucrum nine wing-cleft leafits, segments spear-shaped. In- 
volucellum nine leafits, six spear-shaped and three wing-cleft. Seeds 
with four large, broad, deeply toothed ridges, and three smaller interven¬ 
ing ones. The seeds resemble those of D. muricatus, but the plant differs 
in other respects. (Bristles of the seeds more flattened at the base, rather 
resembling those of some foreign species than the foregoing, from which 
this plant is surely distinct. Sm. E.) 
Mr. Woodward suggests that the hoary hairiness may be a consequence of 
the sea-air, and that the umbels not cupping is owing to their small size. 
We, however, would observe that a hairy variety of D. Carota is found 
remote from the sea; and Mr. Dawson Turner, in Bot. Guide, p. 127, 
states, “ I never saw on any part of the coast, excepting Cornwall, a 
plant approaching to D. maritimus , of which the whole habit is distinct 
from the common species; and the leaves very unlike in form, as well as 
appearance and hairiness, besides other differences pointed out by Dr. 
* The wild Carrot has always been marked by Botanists as biennial ; but, in our corn¬ 
fields, and also when sown in a garden, it is annual; it is the parent stock of the cultivated or 
garden Carrot, which is considered a biennial, though here and there a plant shoots up to 
seed the first year. The roots of the garden Carrot are white, or yellow, or deep red yellow. 
(Their more general use was introduced by the Flemings, in the reign of Queen Elizabeth, 
Carrots require a rich sandy loam. The hairiness of the seeds renders them troublesome to 
sow, either from adhesion, or blowing about if separated by the sieve. It has been advised to 
mix a small portion of sand with them, and to adopt artificial means for treading them down. 
By their strong antiseptic qualities, a marmalade made from Carrots has been found useful 
in preventing and curing the sea-scurvy. A thick syrupy matter, like treacle, has been 
obtained from them, but not sugar. In the Georgical Essays it appears, from experiments 
by Dr. Hunter, that, by distillation, an acre of Carrots will yield a larger portion of spirit 
than the like quantity of Barley. E.) The seeds have been sometimes used as diuretic 
and carminative ; and are highly recommended in calculous complaints. An infusion of 
them has been found to afford relief in sharp fits of the gravel. Woodw. Carrots are a 
grateful and nutritious food for all kinds of cattle, and well worthy of more general cultiva¬ 
tion by the farmer. (Hogs will fatten on them, but such food is in general too expensive. 
E.) Carriage horses will work upon them nearly as well as upon oats; but if too long 
continued, or given too freely, cattle may be severely disordered by their diuretic effects. 
Crickets are very fond of them, and are easily destroyed by a paste of powdered arsenic, 
wheat meal, and scraped carrots, placed near their habitations. A poultice of the scraped 
roots has been found to mitigate the pain, and abate the virulence, of phagedenic and can¬ 
cerous ulcers. (Dr. Carey in Month. Mag. v. 27 , adduces his own strongly marked case of 
the cure of the gravel by the infusion of Wild Carrot seeds, taken as tea morning and 
evening. His directions are very particular and satisfactory. On the sandy lands of Suffolk, 
Carrots form an important crop, but are liable to depredations from a small centipede, S. elec - 
trica, and the polypod Polydesmus complanatus, which eat the roots into various labyrinths. 
I Avia Baud is also found on the plant. E.) 
