The Ancestor of the Carrot

The wild ancestor of the cultivated carrot, it grows in dry meadows, slopes and roadside margins, recognizable by its white umbels that fold inward at fruiting, forming the characteristic “bird’s nest”. Its history is ancient: already in the Neolithic, seeds and leaves were used as flavorings and remedies, while the root—initially whitish and woody—was only selected much later, eventually becoming the modern orange vegetable, documented in Europe from the 17th century. Its English name, Queen Anne’s lace, comes from legends attributing the central purple flower to a drop of blood fallen on lace the queen was embroidering; thus in many traditions it symbolizes protection and delicacy. In folk herbal medicine, wild carrot was used as a digestive, diuretic and depurative.