Queen Anne's Lace (Wild Carrot) Missouri Department of Conservation

By A Mystery Man Writer

Description

Queen Anne's lace is a biennial wildflower with branching stems. The flowers are minute, 5-petaled, white or rarely pinkish white, and arranged in large compound umbels (umbrella-shaped clusters). The central floret is usually purple. After blooming, the umbel withers and contracts, forming a bowl into which the seeds fall. Blooms May–October. The leaves are pinnately divided into straplike leaflets (twice-compound). A rosette of basal leaves is formed during the first year and overwinters. The flower stalk develops during the second growing season. The root is a stout taproot, much like a small carrot. The seeds are oblong and spiny. Similar species: Missouri has several species in the carrot/parsley family with feathery, divided leaves and umbrella-shaped clusters of whitish flowers. One you should especially be aware of is common water hemlock, Cicuta maculata, which is extremely poisonous if ingested. Because water hemlock is extremely toxic, while other close relatives are considered edible, correct identification is critical for anyone wishing to eat wild edibles. Water hemlock's stems are usually streaked or spotted with purple, and usually hairless. It has doubly-compound leaves and the leaflets are large and rarely lobed. The veins that extend laterally from the leaflet midveins end mostly in the sinuses between the teeth (and not at the points of the teeth). If you are inexperienced with plant identification, it is best to consider all wild members of the carrot family as potentially fatally toxic.