wild carrot

The wild carrot is a herbaceous, somewhat variable biennial plant that grows to 30–100 cm (1–3 ft), rarely 120 cm (4 ft) tall, and is roughly hairy, with a stiff, solid stem. The leaves are tripinnate, finely divided and lacy, and overall triangular in shape. The leaves are 5–15 cm (2–6 in) long, bristly and alternate in a pinnate pattern that separates into thin segments. The flowers are small and dull white, clustered in flat, dense umbels. The umbels are terminal and about 8–15 cm (3–6 in) wide. They may be pink in bud and may have one (rarely a few) pink, reddish or purple flower (the "ruby") in the centre of the umbel. There are 7–13 bracts below the umbel; these are three-forked or pinnate, which distinguishes the plant from other white-flowered umbellifers. As the seeds develop, the umbel curls up at the edges, becomes more congested, and develops a concave surface. The fruit is a small, dry, bumpy, oval and flattened carpel 2.5–4 mm long, with short styles and hooked spines, as well as protective hairs surrounding them; it is bicarpellate, with two mericarps. Its endosperm grows before the embryo. The dried umbels can detach from the plant, and have been suggested to have tumbleweed characteristics. The function of the tiny red flower, due to anthocyanin, is to attract insects. …

Daucus carota is native to temperate regions of Europe, northern Africa (south to Ethiopia), southwestern and eastern Asia; it has also been introduced to and become naturalised in North and South America, Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa. It is commonly found in meadows, along roadsides and in unused fields. It thrives best in sun to partial shade.

Like the cultivated carrot, the wild carrot root is edible while young, but quickly becomes too woody to consume. The flowers are sometimes battered and fried. The leaves and seeds are also edible. The seeds and flowers have been used as a method of contraception and an abortifacient for centuries, but scientific research has not confirmed any such effects and there is no evidence of safety. If used as a dyestuff, the flowers give a creamy, off-white colour.

Association with other plants. This species can be used as a companion plant to crops. Like most members of the umbellifer family, it attracts wasps to its small flowers in its native land, but where it has been introduced, it attracts very few wasps. In northeast Wisconsin, it did succeed in attracting butterflies and wasps when introduced with blueberries. In western Washington grazed grasslands dominated by Carex inops, it was the most frequently-visited flower by the ochre ringlet butterfly Coenonympha california. This species is also documented to boost tomato plant production when kept nearby, and it can provide a microclimate of cooler, moister air for lettuce, when intercropped with it. But Iowa, Michigan, and Washington have listed it as a noxious weed, and it is considered a serious pest in pastures. It persists in the soil seed bank for two to five years.

Taste. …

Wild carrot was introduced into North America by European settlers and has become common; it is often known as "Queen Anne's lace" there. Anne, Queen of Great Britain is the queen after whom the plant is reputedly named, though as a plant name it is not known before 1895, 180 years after her death. It is so called because the inflorescence resembles lace, prominent in fine clothing of the day; the red flower in the centre is said to represent a droplet of blood where Queen Anne pricked herself with a needle when she was making the lace.

History through artwork. The history of Daucus carota and its cultivation in different parts of the world can be traced through historical texts and artwork. Paintings from the 16th and 17th centuries, for example, of maids in a market or farmers' most recent crops can provide information on carrots' history. Such paintings show that yellow or red roots were cultivated in Turkey, North Africa, and Spain. Orange roots were cultivated in 17th-century Netherlands.

References in poetry. "Queen Anne's Lace" is the title and subject of a poem by William Carlos Williams in his 1921 collection Sour Grapes.