Qreen Anne's Lace

 

 

 

Daucus carota, Queen Anne's Lace, is the ancestor of our grocery store carrots. If you taste the root, you can taste the carrot-ness of it. But the foliage is poison, or so they say. It is sometimes classified as an invasive noxious weed as it is said to overcrowd pastures. What I say to that is if the pastures were properly mowed, it would not become a problem in the first place, but I am not here to discuss pasture management.The seeds of Queen Anne's Lace have been used as a contraceptive for over 2000 years. It is a food stuff for swallowtail larvae, attracts predatory wasps, and has been shown to boost tomato production when grown near tomatoes. Likely this is a result of the association with predatory wasps. They lay their eggs on the tomato hornworms body and ultimately kill the hornworm. The eggs are those white things on tomato hornworm's body. Never kill a hornworm that has those white egg attachments.
Queen Anne's Lace was brought to this country by European settlers and has become so ubiquitous that many people think it is a native wildflower. It has also invaded Australia. I don't think of it as a weed though. I enjoy it's beauty and like to use it in floral arrangements, even thou the pollen tends to drop around it. to me this adds to the beauty, similar to a fallen petal under an arrangement.
Like a carnation , the flowers take up color added to the water it sits in. Try this with the kids. put a little food coloring into the water of a vase of Queen Anne's lace flowers and watch what happens.
The red dot that sometimes appears in the middle of the flower is a drop of queen Anne's blood when she pricked her finger making the lace. In actuality it attracts insects.
The dried umbels hold the seed. They contract, becoming concave and result in another common name for the plant: bird's nest.
A word of caution. Queen Anne's Lace is easily mistaken for Poison Hemlock. Click here to see.

Queen Anne's Lace

Queen Anne's Lace (Daucus carota) is one of my favorite flowers (I know, I say that about every flower).It immigrated to this country from Northern Europe with the first settlers, and it has made itself at home enough so that USDA classifies it as a noxious weed. It is a pest in pastures they say. I say that is just due to bad pasture management.It grows in dry ditches, along roadsides, and other dry areas. Although it is an immigrant it has integrated into the ecosystem. The caterpillars of black swallowtails eat the leaves, bees and other nectar drinkers and pollen eaters feed from the flowers, and lacewings and other predatory insects seek prey (aphids) there.
There is often a dark red to black flower in the center of the inflorescence, which may serve to attrack insects. It is a biennial which means it does not flower till the second year, and then dies after seed are formed. After a couple of years there will be both one and two yesr old plants growing together so that there will always be flowers.
The seeds of the Queen Anne's Lace have been used as a contraceptive in both Native American and Chinese cultures.
The root can be eaten when the plant is young, but it quickly becomes woody. It could be like dandelions. The foliage is said to be eatable when picked before the flower buds form, but around here dandelion flower buds appear with the foliage and MY! Are they ever bitter!! Also the Queen Anne's Lace can be mistaken for Water Hemlock, which is deadly poisonous. However water hemlock grows in-- you guessed it---wet places.
As a child I loved flowers as much as the name Queen Anne's lace. I remember walking in it when it was above my head, It may grow to 4 feet tall. I wrote a poem about it, but thankfully, the poem is lost.
I had an aunt who loved them too. She contributed to their spread by collecting the seed and spreading them along the road as she drove by.