#umbellifer

Scientific Name: Bifora americana or Atrema americanum Common Name(s): Prairie bishop Family: Apiaceae (carrot; umbellifers) Life Cycle: Annual Leaf Retention: N/A Habit: Forb USDA L48 Native Status: Native Location: Plano, Texas Season(s): Spring

Photo by @purrdence​ while she was in Aoteoroa, where the wild carrot has been naturalised since at least 1854.

AKA bird's nest, bishop's lace, Bee's Nest-Plant, Devil's Plague and in North America,  Queen Anne's Lace.

The direct ancestor of the cultivated carrot, which is regarded as a subspecies. The Binomial comes from the Greek for carrot, and the Latin via other Greek for carrot. The English name comes from the French ‘carotte’, which, surprise surprise, means carrot. It’s possible they all trace back to the Proto-Indo-European ‘ker’ for horn, referring to the large taproot.  Daucus carota subsp. sativus translates as “the cultivated carrot carrot”.

The arms of the umbel curl up into a cage after the flowers are pollinated, and the seeds cling to fur and clothing. Curiously, there’s often a single dark pink flower at the center of the disk of white ones. It’s possible this attracts small pollinators (like the Zorion longicorn here) by pretending to be one.

The wild plant can cause contact dermatitis, and some of its very similar-looking  relatives like Hemlock are deadly. The domesticated varieties were originally white-rooted and used as a medicinal plant, an aphrodisiac and to prevent poisoning. On the other hand they may have been using parsnips, since they weren’t entirely distinguished in ancient times. A purple-rooted variety existed perhaps as early as the 700s in Afghanistan and was introduced in Europe by Arabs circa 1100. It was cultivated into the modern orange root in the 17th and 18th centuries in the Netherlands. There are frequent claims that the selective breeding was in honour of William of Orange, but by that time there were already orange carrots, which simply did better in the climate of the Netherlands. 

Plant of the Day

Saturday 21 May 2022

Forming a dramatic feature the flowers of Ferula communis (giant fennel) are marching across the garden beds of this part of Great Dixter, Sussex. The giant flowers of this robust perennial are popular with pollinators and rise above mounds of large, finely divided leaves.

Scientific Name: Torilis arvensis Common Name(s): Common hedge parsley, spreading hedgeparsley Family: Apiaceae (carrot, umbellifers) Life Cycle: Annual Leaf Retention: N/A Habit: Forb USDA L48 Native Status: Introduced Location: Plano, Texas Season(s): Spring