Carrot

The Carrot : Daucus carota = root vegetable, biennial, family Apiaceae, origin: Iran, Afghanisthan (probably)

matures in 90 to 120 days

contains beta-carotene

optimum temperature 16 to 21 °C ideal soil is deep, loose and well-drained, sandy or loamy, pH of 6.3 to 6.8.

• Chantenay carrots: roots are shorter than other cultivars, vigorous foliage and greater girth, Cultivars include 'Carson Hybrid' and 'Red Cored Chantenay'.


• Danvers carrots: strong foliage and the roots longer than Chantaney types, and they have a conical shape with a well-defined shoulder, tapering to a point, somewhat shorter than Imperator cultivars, but more tolerant of heavy soil conditions, were developed in 1871 in Danvers, Massachus, Cultivars include 'Danvers Half Long' and 'Danvers 126'


• Imperator carrots: vigorous foliage, is of high sugar content, and has long and slender roots, tapering to a pointed tip. Imperator types are the most widely cultivated by commercial growers. Cultivars include 'Imperator 58' and 'Sugarsnax Hybrid'.


• Nantes carrots: sparse foliage, cylindrical, short with a more blunt tip than Imperator types, attain high yields in a range of conditions. The skin is easily damaged and the core is deeply pigmented, brittle, high in sugar and store less well than other types. Cultivars include 'Nelson Hybrid', 'Scarlet Nantes' and 'Sweetness Hybrid'

*rosette of leaves produces large amounts of sugars, which are stored in the taproot to provide energy for the plant to flower in the second year

*Soon after germination, carrot seedlings show a distinct demarcation between taproot and stem: the stem is thicker and lacks lateral roots. At the upper end of the stem is the seed leaf.

---The first true leaf appears about 10–15 days after germination---

leaves are alternate (with a single leaf attached to a node), spirally arranged, and pinnately compound, with leaf bases sheathing the stem.

When the seed stalk elongates for flowering, the tip of the stem narrows and becomes pointed, and the stem extends upward to become a highly branched inflorescence up to 60–200 cm (20–80 in) tall.

Taproots are typically long and conical, although cylindrical and nearly-spherical cultivars are available. The root diameter can range from 1 cm (0.4 in) to as much as 10 cm (4 in) at the widest part. The root length ranges from 5 to 50 cm (2 to 20 in), although most are between 10 and 25 cm (4 and 10 in)

Flower development begins when the flat meristem changes from producing leaves to an uplifted, conical meristem capable of producing stem elongation and a cluster of flowers. ---cluster is a compound umbel, and each umbel contains several smaller umbels (umbellets). The first (primary) umbel occurs at the end of the main floral stem; smaller secondary umbels grow from the main branch, and these further branch into third, fourth, and even later-flowering umbels. A large, primary umbel can contain up to 50 umbellets, each of which may have as many as 50 flowers; subsequent umbels have fewer flowers.

*Individual flowers are small and white, sometimes with a light green or yellow tint. They consist of five petals, five stamens, and an entire calyx. The stamens usually split and fall off before the stigma becomes receptive to receive pollen. The stamens of the brown, male, sterile flowers degenerate and shrivel before the flower fully opens. In the other type of male sterile flower, the stamens are replaced by petals, and these petals do not fall off. A nectar-containing disc is present on the upper surface of the carpels.

*Flowers change sex in their development, so the stamens release their pollen before the stigma of the same flower is receptive. The arrangement is centripetal, meaning the oldest flowers are near the edge and the youngest flowers are in the center. Flowers usually first open at the outer edge of the primary umbel, followed about a week later on the secondary umbels, and then in subsequent weeks in higher-order umbels. The usual flowering period of individual umbels is 7 to 10 days, so a plant can be in the process of flowering for 30–50 days. The distinctive umbels and floral nectaries attract pollinating insects. After fertilization and as seeds develop, the outer umbellets of an umbel bend inward causing the umbel shape to change from slightly convex or fairly flat to concave, and when cupped it resembles a bird's nest

*The fruit that develops is a schizocarp consisting of two mericarps; each mericarp is a true seed. The paired mericarps are easily separated when they are dry. Premature separation (shattering) before harvest is undesirable because it can result in seed loss.

*The carrot is a diploid species, and has nine relatively short, uniform-length chromosomes (2n=18). The genome size is estimated to be 473 mega base pairs, which is four times larger than Arabidopsis thaliana, one-fifth the size of the maize genome, and about the same size as the rice genome.

( All extracts were copied from: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carrot )