365 Urban Species. #056: Wild Carrot

[urbpan]

Urban species #056: Wild carrot Daucus carota

Some weeds are identifiable from their persistent winter remains. Wild carrot, more often called Queen Anne's lace when in flower and sometimes called "bird's nest" when dry, is distinctive. The flower type, known as an "umbel," retains its delicate skeletal form (see photograph behind cut, below).

Wild carrot was used as an herb for centuries before it was cultivated a the familiar staple root vegetable. Evidence points to an origin in what is now Afghanistan, and use of the plant spread into Europe and Egypt. It was known to the Greeks and Romans (though it was purple or white, not orange) as well as the Chinese, and the Moors brought it to Spain. The Dutch developed an orange variety, in honor of the royals of the House of Orange.
The fact that the vegetable stores so well made it indispensable to northern Europeans, who brought it to North America, and found that the Spaniard had beaten them to it. Native Americans quickly developed herbal uses for this new plant.

One of the reasons for the great success of this species is simply, that it is a weed. By definition, weeds do well in areas disturbed by human activity. Wild carrot sprouts along paths, on roadsides, and infrequently mowed fields. You may be tempted to pull these weeds for some free food, but you will find wild carrot root to be white, tough, and not as plump as the cultivated variety. Wild foods enthusiasts will also deep-fry the flower heads and grind the dried roots up to make a coffee substitute. Despite its long history and known usefulness, it is considered invasive over most of North America.

For more information, consult as I did, the carrot museum, a website overflowing with facts and lore, though sorely in need of an editor.




photo by cottonmanifesto


Wild carrot flower in summer, Boston Nature Center

Comments

[http://users.livejournal.com/purplebunnie_/]

Used as an herb? Does that mean for flavor? What does it taste like?

[urbpan.livejournal.com]

Used as an herb in the old sense of the word: for medicine/magic/seasoning. They mostly used the root, but the seed was used too (and still is) which I imagine has a spicy carroty taste. The greens supposedly can cause skin irritation, but I've never known anyone personally to suffer that--and I work at a place where teachers and children pull carrots out in large numbers. I pull the wild weed at work all the time, and feed the greens and flowers to the woodchucks and rabbits--they love it.

I'd be curious to find out from the plant-lovers who read this journal, if any of them have used carrot greens as a pot herb.

It's closely related to parsley, so I can imagine that it is sometimes used that way.

[by-steph.livejournal.com]

It's high in phytoestrogens and... okay, that's all I know.

[(Anonymous)]

There's some evidence that the seeds can be used as a "morning-after pill". I think they've done some studies with mice, although I don't know how effective and/or safe it is for humans.

moonwatcher