Apiaceae : Daucus carota
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Family Name
Apiaceae
Common Name
Queen Anne's lace, wild carrot
Native American Name
Lakota: pȟaŋǧí zí
Description
Daucus carota is an introduced, somewhat variable, biennial herb with slender to course solitary stems that are usually branched and between 30 and 120 cm tall. The stems can be smooth to roughly hairy. The alternate, compound leaves are tripinnate, finely divided with an overall triangular shape and 5–15 cm long. The ultimate divisions are linear to lanceolate, 2-12 mm long. The inflorescence is a compound umbel on a long (7-50 cm) peduncle with the umbellets attached by unequal rays 3-7.5 cm long. The flowers are small and dull white and usually have a pinkish to purple flower in the center of each of the umbellets. As the seeds develop, the umbel curls up at the edges, becoming more congested, with a concave surface. The fruits are small schizocarps 3-4 mm long and 2 mm wide and bristly. The dried umbels detach from the plant and become tumbleweeds. Queen Anne’s lace blooms from late April through June along roadsides and in waste places in South Dakota.
Horticulture Notes
Although wild carrot is a beautiful plant and is common throughout North America, it is an invasive weed that can displace many native plant species and is not appropriate for cultivation in any native plant garden.
Additional Notes
Queen Anne’s lace an invasive weed and is listed as a noxious weed in at least 35 states Similar in appearance to poison hemlock (Conium maculatum), it can be distinguished from by a mix of tripinnate leaves, fine hairs on its solid green stems and on its leaves, a root that smells like carrots, and the single red flower in the center of the umbellets. Hemlock is also different in tending to have purple mottling on its stems.