Queen Annes Lace
SKU:
CA$4.00
CA$4.00 - CA$46.50
per item
Description
Queen Anne’s Lace, Daucus carota-wild carrot
Queen Anne’s lace, Daucus carota (Family Apiaceae), is a common sight in dry fields, roadside ditches and open areas. There are many explanations for the origin of this common name, including the flower’s resemblance to the lace that was fashionable around the time of the British monarch, wife of King James I; because people thought it resembled Queen Anne’s lace headdress; 18th-century English courtiers used the flowers as “living lace;” and supposedly because Queen Anne challenged her ladies-in-waiting to a contest to see who could produce a piece of lace as beautiful as the flower, but none could rival her own efforts.
It is also called wild carrot, because this is the European plant that cultivated carrots were developed from. It was brought to North America with the colonists as a medicinal plant and is now naturalized throughout the continent.
The roots are high in vitamin A and the juice is purported to be a diuretic, expel intestinal parasites, and have anti-cancer properties. Teas made from various parts of the plants were traditionally used for numerous ailments including kidney disease, scurvy, and diabetes, but have since been shown to have no medical efficacy.
Seeds germinate throughout the growing season, producing a small rosette of ferny green leaves. The finely divided alternate leaves are tripinnate
the feather-like leaflets are again divided) and the lower leaves are considerably larger than the upper ones. The plant also produces a firm, yellowish, spindly taproot. Although the root is edible when young (but not tasty like its cultivated relatives), the leaves can cause skin irritation in some people, especially those sensitive to celery or chrysanthemums. There are similar looking plants such as poison hemlock or fool’s parsley (Conium maculatum) and water hemlock (Cicuta maculata) that are poisonous, so care must be taken not to confuse them if collecting wild plant to eat the roots.
This biennial flowers in its second season, then dies. Hollow branched flower stems grow two to four feet tall, and both the stems and leaves are covered with short, coarse hairs. The attractive, airy two- to four-inch “flower” is actually a compound flower. Up to a thousand tiny white flowers are produced in lacy, flat-topped clusters (umbels) with a dark, purplish center. As the seeds ripen, the inflorescence curls inward to form a “bird’s nest” shape and turns a brownish color. A small bristly seed is produced at the end of each flower stalk, and once dry they readily latch onto fur or feathers to be disseminated beyond where the seeds would otherwise fall.
It combines nicely with black-eyed Susan, coreopsis, and butterfly weed. The flowers of this plant make good cut flowers and is a nice filler in arrangements with other flowers. They do not dry well when hung up, but can be pressed to preserve the blooms.
All my seeds come in reusable ziplock bags with planting instructions if you order more than one of these they will be shipped in one package unless otherwise requested
Queen Anne’s lace, Daucus carota (Family Apiaceae), is a common sight in dry fields, roadside ditches and open areas. There are many explanations for the origin of this common name, including the flower’s resemblance to the lace that was fashionable around the time of the British monarch, wife of King James I; because people thought it resembled Queen Anne’s lace headdress; 18th-century English courtiers used the flowers as “living lace;” and supposedly because Queen Anne challenged her ladies-in-waiting to a contest to see who could produce a piece of lace as beautiful as the flower, but none could rival her own efforts.
It is also called wild carrot, because this is the European plant that cultivated carrots were developed from. It was brought to North America with the colonists as a medicinal plant and is now naturalized throughout the continent.
The roots are high in vitamin A and the juice is purported to be a diuretic, expel intestinal parasites, and have anti-cancer properties. Teas made from various parts of the plants were traditionally used for numerous ailments including kidney disease, scurvy, and diabetes, but have since been shown to have no medical efficacy.
Seeds germinate throughout the growing season, producing a small rosette of ferny green leaves. The finely divided alternate leaves are tripinnate
the feather-like leaflets are again divided) and the lower leaves are considerably larger than the upper ones. The plant also produces a firm, yellowish, spindly taproot. Although the root is edible when young (but not tasty like its cultivated relatives), the leaves can cause skin irritation in some people, especially those sensitive to celery or chrysanthemums. There are similar looking plants such as poison hemlock or fool’s parsley (Conium maculatum) and water hemlock (Cicuta maculata) that are poisonous, so care must be taken not to confuse them if collecting wild plant to eat the roots.
This biennial flowers in its second season, then dies. Hollow branched flower stems grow two to four feet tall, and both the stems and leaves are covered with short, coarse hairs. The attractive, airy two- to four-inch “flower” is actually a compound flower. Up to a thousand tiny white flowers are produced in lacy, flat-topped clusters (umbels) with a dark, purplish center. As the seeds ripen, the inflorescence curls inward to form a “bird’s nest” shape and turns a brownish color. A small bristly seed is produced at the end of each flower stalk, and once dry they readily latch onto fur or feathers to be disseminated beyond where the seeds would otherwise fall.
It combines nicely with black-eyed Susan, coreopsis, and butterfly weed. The flowers of this plant make good cut flowers and is a nice filler in arrangements with other flowers. They do not dry well when hung up, but can be pressed to preserve the blooms.
All my seeds come in reusable ziplock bags with planting instructions if you order more than one of these they will be shipped in one package unless otherwise requested