Queen Anne's Lace!
The Wild Carrot (Daucus carota) grows on grassland, roadsides and hedgerows throughout the British Isles, especially near the sea and on calcareous soils. Wild carrot is a member of the carrot family (Apiaceae), which includes parsnip, parsley, fennel and angelica.
Wild Carrot is in flower from June to August. It is biennial and seeds will grow only leaves in their first year, flower in their second year and die after setting seed. Hundreds of small white flowers are held in small umbels joined into one large umbel at the top of the sturdy stem up to 100cm high. In the centre of the flowers is one dark red flower which may serve to attract pollinating insects to the flowers. The leaves are finely divided into leaflets and smell carroty when crushed, but can be an irritant to skin.
It is the delicate white flower heads of Wild Carrot that have inspired the common name Queen Anne’s Lace!
Queen Anne's Lace!
The Wild Carrot (Daucus carota) grows on grassland, roadsides and hedgerows throughout the British Isles, especially near the sea and on calcareous soils. Wild carrot is a member of the carrot family (Apiaceae), which includes parsnip, parsley, fennel and angelica.
Wild Carrot is in flower from June to August. It is biennial and seeds will grow only leaves in their first year, flower in their second year and die after setting seed. Hundreds of small white flowers are held in small umbels joined into one large umbel at the top of the sturdy stem up to 100cm high. In the centre of the flowers is one dark red flower which may serve to attract pollinating insects to the flowers. The leaves are finely divided into leaflets and smell carroty when crushed, but can be an irritant to skin.
It is the delicate white flower heads of Wild Carrot that have inspired the common name Queen Anne’s Lace!