Gretchen M. Alexander
"Queen Anne's Lace"
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| (Photos by Patrick Fraser) |
“Umbrella” evolved from the Latin umbrell (umbel is a flat-topped rounded flower) or umbra meaning shaded or shadow. The suffix - elle is used in French to denote “little,” thus umbrella is “a little shadow” or “a little rounded flower.”
Latin: Daucas carota, Carota is a wild progenitor of domestic carrots native to southern Europe; it came to North America in bags of wheat, barley and rye seeds. A biennial; it is easily propagated by seed.
Uses:
Medicinally useful aromatic herb
Edible: root is edible cooked or raw, flower clusters can be French fried
Host plant to Black Swallow Tail Butterfly larvae
Source of dye
Inspiration for poets and artists
The plant is named for Queen Anne of England, Scotland, and Ireland (1665 - 1714), the last Stuart monarch. Supposedly Queen Anne challenged her Ladies-In-Waiting to create a lace pattern as fine as the flower of the wild carrot. Another story suggests the little dark red/purple floret in the center of the flower head developed when the Queen pricked her finger while making the lace. It was during her reign that England and Scotland were united to become Great Britain.
Queen Anne’s Lace is beautiful, graceful, grows almost anywhere, and inspires artists and poets.