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Kendall County (IL) Forest Preserve District Wild Carrot (Queen Ann's Lace) The non-native (European) Wild Carrot is very
common in our area. It prefers full sunlight and slightly moist to dry soil
that contains either loam or clay-loam. Habitats include overgrown thickets,
degraded prairies, weedy meadows, roadsides, vacant lots and other waste
areas. This biennial starts as a rosette
of basal
leaves (up to 5" long and 2½" across) in the first year and bolts
in the second year a flowering stalk 2-5' tall with a hollow central stem,
hairy and sparingly branched. The alternate compound leaves are up to 4"
long and 2" across and are bipinnate-pinnatifid
or pinnate-bipinnatifid in structure giving a lacy or fern-like appearance.
The upper stems terminate in compound umbels of
flowers 2-5" across and slightly dome-shaped with 20-90 umbellets with each umbellet having 15-60 flowers.
Each flower is about 1/8" across with 5 white petals. Sometimes the
petals of a single flower in the middle of the compound umbel are reddish
purple.
Wild Carrot at Harris Forest Preserve July 7,
2016
Wild Carrot early bloom head at Harris Forest
Preserve July 7, 2016
Wild Carrot at Hoover Forest Preserve July 2,
2015
Wild Carrot stems at Harris Forest Preserve
July 7, 2016
Wild Carrot leaf at Harris Forest Preserve
July 7, 2016
Wild Carrot fall seedhead at Blackberry Forest
Preserve November 5, 2014 Wild Carrot was used for centuries as a contraceptive. Native Americans ate its roots raw or steamed and dried the roots for cooking in the winter. Some made a decoction of the plant for colds and fevers. Reminder: see our Do Not Disturb Notice. Click here for more information. Copyright © 2011-2017 by Kendall County Forest Preserve District. All Rights Reserved. |
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