Wild Carrots

The Wild Carrot is know as the queens anne lace or (Daucus Carota). It has white lacy flowers but as its a member of the carrot family it has a long tap root and also has lacy leaves. It is spindle-shaped, slender, firm, woody and yelllowish in colour. Originally when young it is actually edible but this changes soon, due to a high content of xylem tissue, the root and ecspecially the middle of the root soon gets tough and woody. The normal domestic carrot dosn't have high levels of xylem tissue so this dosn't happen. These flowers can grow up to 4ft tall. The leaves and stems may have a lot of hair or barely hair at all. The wild carrots roots are typicallly white and also whenever any part of the plant is crushed the typical carrot odour is released. The Wild Carrot also has many different names.

The Wild Carrot is also known as:Queen Anne's Lace, Birds Nest Weed, Bees Nest, Devils Plague, garden carrot, Bird's Nest Root, Fools Parsley, Lace Flower, Rantipole, Herbe a dinde and Yarkuki. Herbe a dinde derives from its use as a feed for young turkeys-dinde.

(Information and picture from www.carrotmuseum.co.uk)