Daucus carota

Queen Anne’s lace (Wilde Möhre)

This “weed” grows down near the canal where I walk my dogs, and I’ve been observing it the last twelve months or so because of the seed-heads, which develop into huge sticky burrs which get lodged in the hair of my poor Irish wolfhound at this time of year!

A member of the carrot family, also known as the wild carrot, it has fine feathery leaves, a hairy stem, and a big white flower. I read somewhere that the seeds have been used both as a form of contraceptive, as an alternative medicine for Alzheimer’s disease, as a diuretic, as well as for simple digestive disorders such as wind!

Where does the name come from? When fully open the flower does indeed look like a lace collar, but the dark red centre flower, or floret, is said to be a drop of Queen Anne’s blood where she pricked her finger while stitching the lace.

This single red floret is said to attract insects, but I like to think it is simply a quirk of nature… I remember the first time I wanted to photograph a flower in full bloom and I tried to remove the brownish red “speck” in the middle, thinking it was a bit of dirt, or a flower that had already started to shrivel up!

And the strange thing is that this speck is not always visible…. Has someone else done the same as me, just before I came along?! Or is this red flower only occasionally produced…

The bud, in its early stages…