North Carolina Wildflowers

by Jeffrey S. Pippen | Back to Jeff's Plant Page | Jeff's Nature Pages


Apiaceae > Daucus (wild carrot, queen anne's lace)

Queen Anne's Lace, Wild Carrot (Daucus carota) Queen Anne's Lace, Wild Carrot (Daucus carota)
Weedy field in Orange Co., NC
11 June 2008

Introduced from Europe, this familiar plant is common statewide in North Carolina and grows in fields, pastures, roadsides, and other disturbed, open areas. Note the central flower in the flower head is colored, supposedly by a drop of blood from Queen Anne who pricked her finger while knitting the lace...

Queen Anne's Lace, Wild Carrot (Daucus carota) Queen Anne's Lace, Wild Carrot (Daucus carota)
Weedy field in Orange Co., NC
11 June 2008

The cultivated carrots we eat are derived from this species.

Queen Anne's Lace, Wild Carrot (Daucus carota)
St. Clair Co., MI
7 July 2012

Queen Anne's Lace, Wild Carrot (Daucus carota)
St. Clair Co., MI
7 July 2012

Queen Anne's Lace, Wild Carrot (Daucus carota)
St. Clair Co., MI
7 July 2012

Queen Anne's Lace, Wild Carrot (Daucus carota)
St. Clair Co., MI
7 July 2012

Flowers along the outer edge of the inflorescence have enlarged petals to appear more showy to potential pollinators.

Queen Anne's Lace, Wild Carrot (Daucus carota)
St. Clair Co., MI
7 July 2012

Leaves may be highly dissected and stems variably hairy.


Annotated habitat and distribution information listed above is from Radford, Ahles, & Bell. 1968. Manual of the Vascular Flora of the Carolinas. UNC Press; and from personal observations and discussions with Will Cook, Harry LeGrand, and Bob Wilbur. Common names from personal experience and supplemented by the following resources USDA plants website, Flora of the Carolinas, Virginia, and Georgia, and NatureServe.


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Created on ... Aug 6, 2006 | jeffpippen9@gmail.com