Everything about Daucus Carota totally explained
Wild carrot,
bishop's lace, or
Queen Anne's lace (
Daucus carota) is a
flowering plant in the family
Apiaceae, native to
temperate regions of
Europe and southwest
Asia; domesticated
carrots are
cultivars of a subspecies,
Daucus carota subsp.
sativus.
Daucus carota is a variable
biennial plant, usually growing up to 1 m tall and flowering from June to August. The
umbels are claret-coloured or pale pink before they open, then bright white and rounded when in full flower, measuring 3-7cm wide with a festoon of
bracts beneath; finally, as they turn to
seed, they contract and become concave like a bird's nest. This has given the plant its British common or vernacular name,
Bird's Nest. Very similar in appearance to the deadly
Water Hemlock, it's distinguished by a mix of bi-pinnate and tri-pinnate
leaves, fine hairs on its stems and leaves, a root that smells like
carrots, and occasionally a single dark red
flower in its center.
Cultivation and uses
See
carrot for the modern cultivated forms of the species.
Like the cultivated carrot, the wild carrot
root is edible while young, but quickly becomes too
woody to consume. A
teaspoon of crushed
seeds has long been used as a form of
natural birth control – its use for this purpose was first described by
Hippocrates over 2,000 years ago. Research conducted on
mice has offered a degree of confirmation for this use – it was found that wild carrot disrupts the implantation process, which reinforces its reputation as a
contraceptive.
Chinese studies have also indicated that the seeds block
progesterone synthesis, which could explain this effect.
It is recommended that, as with all
herbal remedies and wild food gathering, one should use appropriate caution. Extra caution should be used in this case, as it bears close resemblance to a dangerous species (see
Water Hemlock). The leaves of the wild carrot can be a skin irritant, so caution should also be used when handling the plant.
Queen Anne's lace
Wild carrot was introduced and
naturalised in
North America, where it's often known as "
Queen Anne's lace". It is so called because the flower resembles lace; the red flower in the center represents a blood droplet where Queen Anne pricked herself with a needle when she was making the lace. The function of the tiny red flower, coloured by
anthocyanin, is to attract insects.
The
USDA has listed it as a
noxious weed, and it's considered a serious pest in pastures.
Image:Umbella.jpg|Wild carot in flower
Image:DSCRF0787.JPG|A young Queen Anne's Lace with red flower in center.
Image:DSCF0784.JPG|Queen Anne's Lace in southern Maine.
Image:DSCF1354.JPG|Queen Anne's Lace on Prince Edward Island.
Further Information
Get more info on 'Daucus Carota'.
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