Queen Anne's Lace - Daucus carota

Above: Queen Anne's Lace on bank of retaining pond on the corner of Nakoma Road and Manitou Way in Madison, Wisconsin. (7/7/19).

Queen Anne's Lace - Daucus carota (ecologically invasive)

Queen Anne's Lace is a naturalized plant brought to North America with the colonists as a medicinal plant. It grows between 1 - 5' tall.

The small, dull white flowers of Queen Anne's lace are clustered in flat-topped , dense umbels with a dark, purplish center. The function of the tiny purple/red flower is to attract insects.

Queen Anne's Lace's feather-like leaflets are divided.

Queen Anne's Lace likes to grow in dry fields, roadside ditches and open areas.

As the seeds develop, the umbel curls up at the edges, becomes more congested, and develops a concave surface like a bird's nest. The dried umbels detach from the plant, becoming tumbleweeds.

Queen Anne's Lace is also called wild carrot because this is the European plant that cultivated carrots were developed from.

Queen Anne's Lace blooms June - September.

Other names: Wild carrot, bird's nest, bishop's lace.

Above: Purple flower in center of Queen Anne's Lace umbel on bank of retaining pond on the corner of Nakoma Road and Manitou Way in Madison, WI . (7/27/19).

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QUEEN ANNE'S LACE
(Daucus carota)
by Scottish author, Elizabeth Gordon

The fairy babies simple race

Each night to Madame Queen Anne's Lace,

Cuddled so warmly to her breast

She gives each babe a good night's rest.

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For more information on the Queen Anne's Lace, visit Wikipedia.

Or, visit the UW-Madison Wisconsin State Herbarium website page about Queen Anne's Lace.

Or, download a PDF from the University of Wisconsin Master Gardener Program about Queen Anne's Lace, Daucus carota.

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