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Queen Anne's Lace
(Daucus carota)
Both of the words in "Daucus carota" mean orange.
June photo
This is NOT a native plant.
It isn't hard to see why this flower was compared to lace.
Queen Anne's Lace is the ancestor of the carrot you eat!
If you pull up a young plant the tap root is worth steaming and eating. It will be whitish, though, and not orange.The seeds can be used as carrot seed to flavor stews and soups.
It is a lovely plant. Look for one tiny purplish floret in the center...I was once told that is the queen. The white florets make up her lace collar. I'll find an old painting to show you here so you can appreciate the style of lace collars, and the time of Queen Anne better. I read that some folks call that purple flower "the jewel".
The story goes that Queen Anne, around 1600 and something, spent time in a nice garden in England. The "wild carrot" was planted in a border there. The queen challenged her ladies in waiting to make lace as intricate as the flower! The queen was also trying to make lace to rival the flower. At the end of the summer it was decided the queen had made the most beautiful lace pattern. Do you think her ladies in waiting tried to beat her in lace making?
Way before that the wild carrot, which comes from the eastern Mediterranean, was used as a medicine and a love potion! It was the Dutch people who improved the carrot so it was a tasty food. The English liked its looks and used it as an ornamental flower, but even they started eating the improved ones. It came to our shores with the first settlers and did great here. Perhaps too well as it is now considered a pain in the neck weed by many people. I think it is a beautiful garden flower.
As the seeds develop the flower folds up into a "nest" shape.
Insects like to hang out in the protection of the nest. Look for tiny spiders.
You can collect seeds when it all turns brown. Make sure they are dry before putting them in a jar or zip-top bag to save for cooking.
Scatter them where you want plants to grow next year!
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