Description

A biennial also known as Queen Annes Lace this is a dainty, frothy wildflower. Unlike cultivated carrots, the wild carrots root is tough and stringy and not particularly palatable. The flower itself is long stalked and shaped like an up-turned umbrella. It is similar in appearance to other members of the Apiacae or umbellifer family such as the highly poisonous hemlock and the commonly seen cow parsley with white flowers and feathery leaves. However, the foliage of wild carrot is a mix of bipinnate (leaves where the feathers are feathered themselves) and tripinnate (leaves where the feathers on the feathers are feathered!), a root that smells of carrots, a hairy stem and occasionally a single red flower in the centre.