Read here about Wild Carrot, Daucus carota, its medicinal properties and place in folklore.
Wild Carrot is a native of Europe and South West Asia, though now also widely naturalised in the Americas and beyond. In the UK it is seen most often in the south and east.
The cultivated carrot wasn’t recorded as growing in the UK until the 17thcentury, but was already familiar enough for Nicolas Culpeper to state in his famous Herbal of 1653: “Garden carrots are so well known that they need no description.” We, however, may not have recognised them, because they were probably purple, the orange variety only just being developed around that time in the Netherlands. He went on to say that the wild variety was ” more powerful” in medicinal terms.
The wild carrot is a biennial, producing in the first year a low mound of greyish-green, hairy, highly-dissected leaves;and only flowers in the second year. The young root is edible, but it’s too woody to be palatable in the second year. After the attractive flowers, the wild carrot gives us continuing pleasure as the umbel folds inwards and produces a rugby ball shaped seed head. Once the seeds have dispersed on the wind, the seed head remains, like a decorative miniature bird’s nest, to give garden interest over the winter.
Carrots belong to an enormous family of plants that also includes celery, coriander, fennel, parsley, angelica – and hemlock. Formerly referred to as Umbelliferae, referring to the umbrella-like shape of their many-flowered heads held up on ‘spokes’ above the leaves, this family of 3000 species is now also known as Apiaceae, from the Greek word for celery. The flowers of all are attractive to many insects, including bees, hoverflies, beetles and others.
WARNING: There are many umbellifers similar in appearance to the wild carrot – a lacy cap of white flowers, serrated leaves etc – but it is the only one to have a darker, reddish, flower in the centre, which can be used to identify it with certainty. Unfortunately, this distinguishing feature is not apparent in all specimens so, to be sure you’re not picking one of its very toxic relatives, look for the carrot’s hairy stems – the poisonous plants have smooth ones. Also, a big clue is the scent of the plant: it smells like carrot!
A further warning: some people are sensitive to the sap, which can cause contact dermatitis.
Medicinal Uses
Wild carrot has a long history of medicinal application, certainly as far back as the Roman Empire, when Aulus Cornelius Celsus (25BC–50AD) mentioned the use of wild carrot seeds in his work De Medicina. Seeds, stems, roots and leaves may all be used in medicine as in cooking. It was used as a contraceptive in former times as it induces uterine contractions.
Wild carrot has been prescribed for:
Digestive disorders – calming the stomach and easing flatulence, increasing the flow of urine.
Gout – eliminating waste material from the kidneys.
Menstrual problems – stimulating menstrual flow (women who might be pregnant should avoid it).
Diabetes – the modern herbalist Juliette de Baïracli Levy (1912–2009) wrote that eating carrot leaves helps control blood sugar levels, and used it in her dietary programmes.
Myth and Magic
I have not found any age-old stories relating to magical properties, but there is a myth to be considered about the plant’s common name – or is it even this plant?
According to a number of sources, a common name for wild carrot is Queen Anne’s Lace, oddly enough even in the republican USA. Other sources say that name was in fact used for Cow Parsley, a related plant: that’s indeed what we called it when I was a child in rural Yorkshire. The story goes that Queen Anne travelled around the country in May, and the white flowers seemed to be decorating her route. (This story actually supports the cow parsley option – since it comes into flower in May, while wild carrot blooms from June onwards).
The other story goes that Anne pricked her finger while making lace, and the dark red central flower represents the droplet of blood on the fine fabric. The puzzle is, which Queen Anne?
The first British Queen Anne was the wife of James I (VI of Scotland), but why would a plant scarce in Scotland be commonly named after a Scottish consort who only became queen of the rest of the kingdom in 1609 and died in 1616? The only actual monarch named Anne reigned from 1702-1714. She had eighteen pregnancies, though only four live births, and no child survived to adulthood. One could speculate that the lace may refer to baby clothes or perhaps, more sadly, to their shrouds.
Acknowledgments – thanks for much information to the following
– www. wildseed.co.uk
– www.plantlife.love-wildflowers.org.uk
– www.wildlfowerfinder.org.uk
– www.plantlife.org.uk
– www.permaculture.co.uk
– www.wildmedicinal.wordpress.com
And, of course, to my copy of Nicolas Culpeper’s Herbal
