Daucus carota
(daw-cuss' ca-rot' ah)
Common name: Queen Anne's Lace, Wild Carrot
Family: Apiaceae, Parsley
Height x width: 1-4' x 1-2'
Growth rate: moderate
Foliage: long 2-8", very finely cut, fern-like
Flowers: creamy white flat-topped clusters 3-5" wide (compound umbels), usually with one dark reddish-brown floret in the center of the umbel, midsummer
Hardiness: zones 3-9, biennial
Soil: most, tolerates dry well
Light: sun, part shade
Pests and Problems: none serious
Landscape habit, uses: meadow gardens, butterfly gardens (food for swallowtail caterpillars), bees gardens as a nectar and pollen source, waste places, often volunteers as a weed rather than being planted
Other interest: ancestor of the garden carrot (subsp. sativus), having a long taproot which can be cooked and eaten; native to Europe and India although naturalized throughout much of the U.S.
Other culture: taproot resents disturbance
Propagation: seeds
©Authored by Dr. Leonard Perry, Professor, University of Vermont as part of
PSS123 course, fall 1997.Return to lecture plants list.
Notes/pictures: