PARSLEY FAMILY UMBELLIFERAE 
WILD CARROT 
Daucus Carota L. 
The Wild Carrot is a native of Asia and Europe, having been 
introduced into this country from the latter. It is often called 
Queen Anne’s Lace and many farmers would be better pleased 
if Queen Anne had kept her lace 
at home, for this plant has be- 
come a pernicious weed in many 
places. Nevertheless it adds 
immensely to the beauty of many 
a wayside for it is very pretty. 
It is usually biennial and its 
slender branching stems grow 1-3 
feet high. Stems and leaf petioles 
usually bear short scattered 
bristly hairs. The root is white, 
fleshy and somewhat similar to 
that of the cultivated Carrot, 
which originated from this wild 
species. The leaves are yellowish 
green and the lower are very 
much cut and divided. 
The plant begins blooming in 
June and continues until the 
frosts of autumn. The involucre 
below the compound umbel is 
composed of several leaflike, pin- 
nately divided bracts, whereas the involucel below each um- 
bellet consists of several entire or toothed bracts. The flowers 
vary from white to rose or pale yellow, and often 1 sessile flower 
in the center of each cluster is dark purple. There are no calyx 
teeth, 1 petal is usually larger than the other 4, and the tips of 
all petals are turned in. In the outermost flowers of a cluster 
the petals are often enlarged and 1 or more may be 2-lobed. 
There are 5 minute stamens with yellow anthers. The prickly 
fruit is oblong, flattened dorsally, and with each half (carpel) of 
the pistil bearing one seed. Each carpel has 5 slender bristly 
primary ribs and 4 winged secondary ribs, each of the latter 
bearing a single row of barbed prickles. 
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