Queen Anne's Lace

Wild Carrot

Daucus carota, also known as, bird's nest, bishop's lace.

Lovely Lace

Queen Anne’s lace earned its common name from Queen Anne of England (1665-1714) who was an expert lace maker. Legend has it that when pricked with a needle, a single drop of blood fell from her finger onto the lace, leaving the dark purple floret found in the flower’s center. 

Queen Anne's Lace (Daucus carota) can reach heights of about 1 to 4 feet high. You can find these biennials in bloom during their second year from spring on into fall. The fruit of this plant is spiky and curls inward, reminiscent of a bird’s nest, which is another of its common names. Belonging to the carrot family, Queen Anne’s lace is also known as wild carrot.

Queen Anne's Lace Going To Seed

This photo was awarded Photo of the Day, on Capture My Vermont, for October 15, 2017.

The Queen Anne's lace flower resembles lace, and oftentimes the flower has a solitary purple dot in the centre.

Early Europeans cultivated Queen Anne’s lace, and the Romans ate it as a vegetable. American colonists boiled the taproots, sometimes in wine as a treat. Interestingly, Queen Anne’s lace is high in sugar (second only to the beet among root vegetables) and sometimes it was used among the Irish, Hindus and Jews to sweeten puddings and other foods.

Edible Parts

Using first year Queen Anne’s lace roots are recommended. Roots are long, pale, woody, and are finger-thin and are edible, and can be cooked and used in a similar way as cultivated carrots, used in soups, stews and in making tea. The dried roasted roots can be ground into a powder and used as a coffee substitute. First year leaves can be chopped and tossed into a salad. Flower clusters can be ‘french-fried’ or fresh flowers can be tossed into a salad. The aromatic seed is used as a flavoring in stews and soups, tasting like caraway. The leaves are edible as both a raw (when young) and cooked green. Since wild carrot is a biennial, and flowers in its second year, the root of a carrot in flower is too woody to be used. At this point you can peel the stem and eat it both raw and cooked.

Medicinal Uses

The seeds are a diuretic and they support the kidneys and help prevent kidney stones. They are also carminative, soothing the digestive tract in case of gas, diarrhea, or indigestion. The seeds can also be used to stimulate the appetite, and alleviate menstrual cramps. An infusion of the seeds can be made using one teaspoon of the seeds per cup of boiling water.

Women have been using the seeds as a contraceptive for centuries.

Medicinal History Of Use: Queen-Anne’s-lace belongs to the carrot family (Umbelliferae) and contains beta-carotene and other properties that are used to treat bladder and kidney conditions. American colonists boiled the taproots, sometimes in wine. They also mixed the leaves with honey and applied  the poultice to sores or ulcers, to help heal and kill bacterial infections. The seeds were used as a form of contraception. The roots were roasted and used as a coffee substitute or infused as a mild diuretic tea. Settlers also used the herb as a source of orange dye. 

NOTE:

Queen Anne’s lace and poison hemlock appear very similar, so be very careful when harvesting Queen Anne’s lace from the wild. The most telling difference is the existence of a red or purple flower in the center of the wild carrot umbel. Not all wild carrot umbels have a dark flower, so the second difference is that Wild carrot stems are hairy, while the stems of both hemlock’s and fool’s parsley are smooth and hairless. This difference is important because it can be noticed in even the first year plants, which otherwise look very similar. Wild carrot also smells like a carrot.

Queen Anne's Lace Of A Different Color

Queen Anne’s Lace is the familiar wild form of carrot, and the white-flowered version is what we currently see blooming along the side of the roads. But this Dara Flowering Carrot, is a vividly-colored variety, with Flowers that open white, change to soft pink and finally deep, rich red. This red coloration is the result of a genetic deviation. The wild form almost always has a single red flower at the center of the cluster and, in the case of this cultivar, the coloration message seems to have made its way to all the flowers. I've been told by someone, that they saw the pink version along the roadside for the first time last year in northwestern Michigan. So, the deviation must have started in the wild and then was cultivated for people to plant in their gardens.

Legend has it that the central red flower is the stain of a drop of Queen Anne’s blood from pricking a finger with her lace-making needle.

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Disclaimer

My blog is meant to inform and I strive to be totally accurate. It is solely up to the reader to ensure proper plant identification. Some wild plants are poisonous or can have serious adverse health effects.