Wild carrot

Daucus carota, whose common names include wild carrot, European wild carrot, bird's nest, bishop's lace, carrot flower, and Queen Anne's lace (North America), is a flowering plant in the family Apiaceae. It is native to temperate regions of the Old World and is naturalised widely elsewhere. Carrots cultivated as a food crop are cultivars of one of the subspecies, Daucus carota subsp. sativus.

Description

The wild carrot is a herbaceous, somewhat variable biennial plant that grows to 30–100 cm (1–3 ft), rarely 120 cm (4 ft) tall, and is roughly hairy, with a stiff, solid stem. The leaves are tripinnate, finely divided and lacy, and overall triangular in shape. The leaves are 5–15 cm (2–6 in) long, bristly and alternate in a pinnate pattern that separates into thin segments. The flowers are small and dull white, clustered in flat, dense umbels. The umbels are terminal and about 8–15 cm (3–6 in) wide. They may be pink in bud and may have one (rarely a few) pink, reddish or purple flower (the "ruby") in the centre of the umbel. There are 7–13 bracts below the umbel; these are three-forked or pinnate, which distinguishes the plant from other white-flowered umbellifers. As the seeds develop, the umbel curls up at the edges, becomes more congested, and develops a concave surface. The fruit is a small, dry, bumpy, oval and flattened carpel 2.5–4 mm long, with short styles and hooked spines, as well as protective hairs surrounding them; it is bicarpellate, with two mericarps. Its endosperm grows before the embryo. The dried umbels can detach from the plant, and have been suggested to have tumbleweed characteristics. The function of the tiny red flower, due to anthocyanin, is to attract insects. The flowers are mainly produced from June to August, rarely also in May or September.

Identification

D. carota is similar in appearance to the deadly poison hemlock, but is readily distinguished by a mix of tripinnate leaves, fine hairs on its solid green stems and its leaves, a root that smells like carrots, and often a single red flower in the centre of the umbel. Hemlock also differs in having purple mottling on its stems, which also lack the hairiness of the plain green wild carrot stems.

Function of the dark central floret

The function of the central dark floret of D. carota has been subject to debate since Charles Darwin speculated that it is vestigial. Some have suggested that it has the adaptive function of mimicking insects, thus either discouraging herbivory or attracting pollinators by indicating the presence of food or opportunities for mating. One study in Portugal found that the dark florets contributed to visitation by the varied carpet beetle Anthrenus verbasci, and that higher numbers of dark florets correlated with increased visitation, whereas inflorescences without dark florets had fewer visits. Replacing the dark florets with one or more freeze-killed A. verbasci, which are similar to the florets in size and shape, produced similar results to observations of inflorescences with intact florets.

Taxonomy

The carrot was first officially described by Carl Linnaeus in his 1753 work Species Plantarum. In 2016, an international team sequenced the full genome of Daucus carota.

Subspecies

The cultivated carrot derives from the wild carrot; both are the same species Daucus carota L.

Several subspecies of D. carota have evolved in different climates. D. carota subsp. sativus has roots that can be a wide range of colours. It has a thicker root and sweeter taste. The whorl of barbs above the spine on the vallecular ridges of the mericarp of D. carota subsp. sativus mature very well. D. carota subsp. carota has consistently white roots, and, unlike D. carota subsp. sativus, has a thin root, bitter taste and are not edible. The middle umbellet of D. carota subsp. carota is not well developed (unlike in D. carota subsp. sativus) and the centre flower varies from red to deep purple.

Subtaxa

The following subtaxa are accepted:

• Daucus carota var. abyssinicus A.Braun — Eritrea and Ethiopia
• Daucus carota subsp. annuus (Bég.) Mart.Flores, D.M.Spooner & M.B.Crespo — Cape Verde
• Daucus carota subsp. azoricus Franco — Azores
• Daucus carota subsp. cantabricus A.Pujadas — Spain
• Daucus carota subsp. capillifolius (Gilli) Arbizu — northern Libya
• Daucus carota subsp. caporientalis Reduron — Corsica
• Daucus carota subsp. carota — wild carrot; widespread
• Daucus carota subsp. commutatus (Paol.) Thell. — Portugal & western Mediterranean area
• Daucus carota subsp. corsoccidentalis Reduron — Corsica
• Daucus carota subsp. drepanensis (Arcang.) Heywood — western & central Mediterranean area
• Daucus carota subsp. fontanesii Thell. — western Mediterranean area
• Daucus carota subsp. gadecaei (Rouy & E.G.Camus) Heywood — northwestern France
• Daucus carota subsp. gummifer (Syme) Hook.f. — sea carrot; Britain and Denmark south to Portugal and Spain. Restricted to coastal sites; shorter, but stouter, and densely hairy, stems, fleshy leaves, and often larger, denser, more globose flowerheads.
• Daucus carota subsp. halophilus (Brot.) A.Pujadas — central and southern Portugal
• Daucus carota subsp. hispanicus (Gouan) Thell. — western & central Mediterranean area
• Daucus carota subsp. major (Vis.) Arcang. — southern Europe, Turkey
• Daucus carota subsp. majoricus A.Pujadas — Balearic Islands
• Daucus carota subsp. maritimus (Lam.) Batt. — Macaronesia, Mediterranean
• Daucus carota subsp. maximus (Desf.) Ball — Canary Islands, Mediterranean east to Pakistan
• Daucus carota var. meriensis Reduron — Corsica
• Daucus carota subsp. otaportensis Reduron — Corsica
• Daucus carota subsp. rupestris (Guss.) Heywood — Malta, Sicily
• Daucus carota subsp. sativus (Hoffm.) Schübl. & G.Martens — cultivated carrot; originated in Turkey, cultivated globally
• Daucus carota subsp. tenuissimus (A.Chev.) Mart.Flores, D.M.Spooner & M.B.Crespo — Cape Verde (Santo Antão, Fogo)
• Daucus carota subsp. valeriae Reduron — Corsica

Distribution and habitat

Daucus carota is native to temperate regions of Europe, northern Africa (south to Ethiopia), southwestern and eastern Asia; it has also been introduced to and become naturalised in North and South America, Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa. It is commonly found in meadows, along roadsides and in unused fields. It thrives best in sun to partial shade.

Toxicity

Like many other species of Apiaceae, the leaves of the wild carrot may cause phytophotodermatitis; skin contact with the foliage, especially wet foliage, can cause skin irritation in some people, so caution should be used when handling the plant. It may also have a mild effect on horses.

The compound falcarinol is naturally found in Daucus carota for protection against fungal diseases. Laboratory tests show the compound is toxic to mice and to the water flea Daphnia magna. Normal consumption of carrots has no toxic effect in humans.

Uses

Like the cultivated carrot, the wild carrot root is edible while young, but quickly becomes too woody to consume. The flowers are sometimes battered and fried. The leaves and seeds are also edible.

The seeds and flowers have been used as a method of contraception and an abortifacient for centuries, but scientific research has not confirmed any such effects and there is no evidence of safety. If used as a dyestuff, the flowers give a creamy, off-white colour.

Association with other plants

This species can be used as a companion plant to crops. Like most members of the umbellifer family, it attracts wasps to its small flowers in its native land, but where it has been introduced, it attracts very few wasps. In northeast Wisconsin, it did succeed in attracting butterflies and wasps when introduced with blueberries. This species is also documented to boost tomato plant production when kept nearby, and it can provide a microclimate of cooler, moister air for lettuce, when intercropped with it. But Iowa, Michigan, and Washington have listed it as a noxious weed, and it is considered a serious pest in pastures. It persists in the soil seed bank for two to five years.

Taste

Several different factors can cause the root of a carrot to have abnormal metabolites (notably 6-methoxymellin) that can cause a bitter taste in the roots. For example, carrots have a bitterer taste when grown in the presence of apples. Also, ethylene can easily produce stress, causing a bitter taste.

Culture

Wild carrot has been introduced into North America by European settlers and has become common; it is often known as "Queen Anne's lace" there. Anne, Queen of Great Britain is the queen after whom the plant is reputedly named, though as a plant name it is not known before 1895, 180 years after her death. It is so called because the inflorescence resembles lace, prominent in fine clothing of the day; the red flower in the centre is said to represent a droplet of blood where Queen Anne pricked herself with a needle when she was making the lace.

History through artwork

The history of Daucus carota and its cultivation in different parts of the world can be traced through historical texts and artwork. Paintings from the 16th and 17th centuries, for example, of maids in a market or farmers' most recent crops can provide information on carrots' history. Such paintings show that yellow or red roots were cultivated in Turkey, North Africa, and Spain. Orange roots were cultivated in 17th-century Netherlands.

References in poetry

"Queen Anne's Lace" is the title and subject of a poem by William Carlos Williams in his 1921 collection Sour Grapes.

See also

• Daucus pusillus, American wild carrot

References

Further reading

• Blanchan, Neltje (2005). Wild Flowers Worth Knowing – via Project Gutenberg.
• Bradeen, James M.; Simon, Philipp W. (2007). "Carrot". In Cole, Chittaranjan (ed.). Vegetables. Genome Mapping and Molecular Breeding in Plants. Vol. 5. New York, New York: Springer. pp. 162–184. ISBN 978-3-540-34535-0.
• Clapham, A. R.; Tutin, T. G.; Warburg, E. F. (1962). Flora of the British Isles. Cambridge University Press.
• Mabey, Richard (1997). Flora Britannica. London: Chatto and Windus.
• Rose, Francis (2006). The Wild Flower Key (edition revised and expanded by Clare O'Reilly). London: Frederick Warne. ISBN 978-0-7232-5175-0.
• Rubatsky, V.E.; Quiros, C.F.; Siman, P.W. (1999). Carrots and Related Vegetable Umbelliferae. CABI Publishing. ISBN 978-0-85199-129-0.

External links

• Connecticut Botanical Society Archived 29 September 2022 at the Wayback Machine