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| Wild Carrot, Daucus carota ssp carota, in the Conservation Field in High Elms Country Park, 22 August 2011. |
The Wild Carrot is a close relation of the cultivated vegetable, and has an edible root, but unless it's very young the root is hard and fibrous and you would not enjoy it as part of a meal. It is best known for its flower. The local meadows are full of it at this time of year.
When the flowers first open, the umbel is flat, but as they mature and die they curve up as you see in this photo. When the petals drop, the stems and seeds form a delicate pattern, and because of this the plant is also known as Queen Anne's Lace.
Another beauty. I didn't know they were carrots. I didn't think, either, that we had them in Louisiana, until, when I went to look them up on line, the page that described the seeds' use in preventing pregnancy provided a side bar to sources in this state--to wit, every small herbal outlet that exists here. Not that I am concerned on my own behalf, and even all the web pages draw attention to the danger of confusing it with other plants. One has the mnemonic, Queen Anne has hairy legs, and your photo does show that feature.
ReplyDeleteWhat does a domestic carrot gone to seed look like?
This use of the seeds is not mentioned in my botanical books!
ReplyDeleteCultivated carrots apparently look much like the wild ones when they have gone to seed, which is reasonable as they are a variety of the same species.