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)

The Geography Behind Growing Carrots

Carrots generally prefer soils that are light and sandy. So if soil is on the light thin side there should be no problem. However if soil has clay and rocks in it then the carrot growth will struggle.


Carrots are not that hard to grow though. The round and stumpy rooted varieties will grow practically anywhere in comparison to some other varieties such as ones with long root which require the light sandy soil.



Also if space is an issue then they will still sucessfully grow in pots and conntainers.



Temperatures that are either above 70 or below 60 farenheit, will reduce the colour of carrots.



Carrots that are grown in their ideal soil, light and sandy and high in organic matter, their colour will be much stronger then that of carrots grown in clay like type soil.

Random Carrot Facts

Carrots get their very distinctive colour of bright orange from B Caratene, Caratene can be synthesized by plants but cannot be made by animals.



In California there is a city called Holtville. They call themselves the CARROT CAPITAL OF THE WORLD. Annualy they hold a large festival purely devoted to the carrot.



Carrots originated in Afghanistan. Originally and still partially to this day the carrots there are not orange. Because of the PH levels in the soil. They were mainly purple and they have often branched roots.



In Alaska, the worlds largest carrot has grown in 1988. It weighed 8.9 Kg.


Carrots are very easy to grow and as a result they exist in abundance.