When the delicate flowers of the wild carrot are still unsoiled by the dust from the highway, and fresh from the early summer rains, they are very beautiful, adding much to the appearance of the roadsides and fields along which they grow so abundantly as to strike despair into the heart of the farmer, for this is, perhaps, the “peskiest” of all the weeds with which he has to contend. As time goes on the blossoms begin to have a careworn look and lose something of the cobwebby aspect which won them the title of Queen Anne’s lace. In late summer the flower-stalks erect themselves, forming a concave cluster which has the appearance of a bird’s nest. I have read that a species of bee makes use of this ready-made home, but have never seen any indications of such an occupancy.
This is believed to be the stock from which the garden carrot was raised. The vegetable was well known to the ancients, and we learn from Pliny that the finest specimens were brought to Rome from Candia. When it was first introduced into Great Britain is not known, although the supposition is that it was brought over by the Dutch during the reign of Elizabeth. In the writings of Parkinson we read that the ladies wore carrot-leaves in their hair in place of feathers. One can picture the dejected appearance of a ball-room belle at the close of an entertainment.
Water-Hemlock. Spotted Cowbane.
Cicuta maculata. Parsley Family (p. [15]).
Stem.—Smooth, stout, from two to six feet high, streaked with purple. Leaves.—Twice or thrice-compound, leaflets coarsely toothed. Flowers.—White, in compound umbels, the little umbels composed of numerous flowers.
This plant is often confused with the wild carrot, the sweet Cicely, and other white-flowered members of the Parsley family; but it can usually be identified by its purple-streaked stem. The umbels of the water-hemlock are also more loosely clustered than those of the carrot, and their stalks are much more unequal. It is commonly found in marshy ground, blossoming in midsummer. Its popular names refer to its poisonous properties, its root being said to contain the most dangerous vegetable-poison native to our country and to have been frequently confounded with that of the edible sweet Cicely with fatal results.
Mock Bishop-weed.
Discopleura capillacea. Parsley Family (p. [15]).
One or two feet high, occasionally much taller. Stems.—Branching. Leaves.—Dissected into fine, thread-like divisions. Flowers.—White, very small, growing in compound umbels with thread-like bracts.
This plant blossoms all summer in wet meadows, both inland and along the coast; but it is especially common in the salt marshes near New York City. It probably owes its English name to the fancied resemblance between the bracted flower-clusters and a bishop’s cap. Its effect is feathery and delicate.
Sweet Cicely.
Osmorrhiza longistylis. Parsley Family (p. [15]).
One to three feet high. Root.—Thick, aromatic, edible. Leaves.—Twice or thrice-compound. Flowers.—White, growing in a few-rayed compound umbel.