Wild Carrot ‘Daucus carota’

Biennial with white umbelliferous flowers with a pink tinge. Good for drying. Looks good growing with scabious.

Daucus carota, whose common names include wild carrot, bird’s nest, bishop’s lace, and Queen Anne’s lace.

They may be pink in bud and may have a reddish or purple flower in the centre of the umbel.  The function of the tiny red flower, coloured by anthocyanin, is to attract insects.

Like the cultivated carrot, the D. carota root is edible while young, but it quickly becomes too woody to consume. The flowers are sometimes battered and fried. An orange dye can be made out of the root.