Plants
Daucus carota
Onglets principaux
EOL Text
Wild Carrot is an ubiquitous plant that many people can recognize. It is possible, however, to confuse this introduced species with other white-flowered members of the Carrot family. Wild Carrot doesn't begin blooming until mid-summer and usually occurs in mesic to dry areas, rather than wetlands. The presence of a single reddish purple flower in the middle of the compound umbel is a distinctive characteristic, although it is not always present. There is a similar native species, Daucus pusillus (Small Wild Carrot), that occurs in two counties of southern Illinois. The primary bracts of the compound flowers for this species are double pinnate, whereas the primary bracts of the introduced species are single pinnate. According to most authorities, Wild Carrot is the source of the cultivated carrot. In addition, this species is the source of the natural food dye, carotene, which provides it with additional commercial importance. Another common name of Daucus carota is Queen Anne's Lace.
License | http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/ |
Rights holder/Author | Copyright © 2002-2014 by Dr. John Hilty |
Source | http://www.illinoiswildflowers.info/weeds/plants/wild_carrot.htm |
Habit: Herb
This adventive biennial plant consists of a rosette of basal leaves during the first year, bolting upward during the second year to produce flowers and seeds. Mature second-year plants are about 2-3½' tall. The basal leaves are usually double pinnate with long petioles. In outline, they are up to 10" and 4" across (including the petioles), narrowing gradually toward their tips. Each compound leaf is subdivided into leaflets that are usually pinnate, while the secondary leaflets are entire, cleft, or coarsely toothed. The individual leaflets are rather narrow, providing the compound leaves with a lacy or fern-like appearance. Scattered white hairs often occur along the petioles, or along the margins and lower mid-veins of the leaflets. The round stems of bolting plants are finely ribbed and have scattered white hairs; they are hollow on the inside and branch sparingly. The compound leaves along the stems are alternate and have their petioles enclosed by sheaths. Otherwise, they are similar to the basal leaves in appearance. The flowering stalks are long and largely devoid of leaves, terminating in compound umbels of small white flowers. Each compound umbel has a whorl of green bracts at its base that are pinnatifid with linear segments. The flat-topped compound umbel is about 2-5" across and consists of about 30 umbellets. Each umbellet has a whorl of linear green bracts at its base and consists of about 30 flowers. While the flowers are blooming, their slender pedicels are often white or greenish white. Each flower consists of 5 white petals and 5 stamens, spanning about 1/8" across. However, the central flower of the central umbellet is often reddish purple. There are forms of Wild Carrot where all of the flowers are light pink, light purple, or reddish purple; the latter color is particularly rare. The blooming period occurs from mid-summer to early fall and lasts about 2 months. There is no noticeable floral scent, although the foliage has a slightly bitter carrot-like scent because of the presence of saponins and possibly other chemicals. Each flower produces a 2-seeded burry fruit about 1/8" long that is ovoid in shape. Each seed is flat on one side, but rounded on the other, and it has white bristly hairs along its ribs. The fruits are variable in color; they are initially light reddish purple, later becoming grayish brown. As the seeds become mature, the compound umbels start to close and assume a shape that is more or less spheroid. They can become detached from the flowering stalks and blow about in the wind. The root system consists of a stout taproot that is white and runs deep into the ground. This plant spreads by reseeding itself.
License | http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/ |
Rights holder/Author | Copyright © 2002-2014 by Dr. John Hilty |
Source | http://www.illinoiswildflowers.info/weeds/plants/wild_carrot.htm |
Daucus carota var. carota is close relative of Daucus carota var. sativa, but differs from the latter in taproot slender, branched, woody, not fleshy, usually brown (vs. thickened, elongate terete or clavate, fleshy, reddish, reddish-yellow, or yellwo).
License | http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/ |
Rights holder/Author | Wen, Jun, Wen, Jun, Plants of Tibet |
Source | http://plantsoftibet.lifedesks.org/pages/1293 |
Barcode of Life Data Systems (BOLDS) Stats
Public Records: 18
Specimens with Barcodes: 32
Species With Barcodes: 1
"Notes: Western Ghats & Eastern Ghats, Cultivated, Native of Mediterranean Region"
There are around 5 dozen Daucus species worldwide (Gleason and Cronquist 1992). In the northeastern United States, there is one other Daucus, D. pusillus, which is widespread in the southern U.S. In contrast to D. carota, D. pusillus has involucral bracts that are not scarious-margined (scarious-margined below in D. carota) and that are appressed to the umbel in fruit (spreading or reflexed in D. carota). (Gleason and Cronquist 1992)
A number of other members of the carrot family--including some dangerously poisonous ones--bear some resemblance to Wild Carrot. For example, Fool's Parsley (Aethusa cynapium) and the Poison Hemlock (Conium maculatum) that supposedly killed Socrates could be confused with Wild Carrot (both of these plants, however, have hairless stems and unpleasant-smelling foliage, among other differences). (Stokes and Stokes 1985)
License | http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/ |
Rights holder/Author | Shapiro, Leo, Shapiro, Leo, EOL Rapid Response Team |
Source | http://eolspecies.lifedesks.org/pages/69975 |
Canada
Rounded National Status Rank: NNA - Not Applicable
United States
Rounded National Status Rank: NNA - Not Applicable
License | http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/ |
Rights holder/Author | Nancy Eckardt, NatureServe |
Source | http://explorer.natureserve.org/servlet/NatureServe?searchName=Daucus+carota |
Plants to 120 cm. Leaves oblong, 2–3-pinnate/pinnatisect; ultimate segments linear to lanceolate, 2-15 mm long, 0.5-4 mm wide, glabrous to hispid especially on the veins and margins, acute, mucronate. Peduncles 10-55 cm, retrorsely hispid; bracts foliaceous, pinnate, rarely entire, lobes linear, 3–30 mm, margin scarious; rays 2-7.5 cm, unequal; bracteoles 5-7, linear, entire or 2-3-lobed, more or less scarious and ciliate, equaling or exceeding flowers. Petals white, sometimes yellow or pinkish. Fruit 3-4 mm long, ca. 2 mm wide.
License | http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/ |
Rights holder/Author | Wen, Jun, Wen, Jun, Plants of Tibet |
Source | http://plantsoftibet.lifedesks.org/pages/1293 |