For centuries, humans have been growing along side our botanical brethren. Our histories have mixed and mingled to bring us modern medical marvels, fated folk lore, and everything in between. Of course, In order to understand the plant, we have to start with it’s roots…..I’m Em Grebner-Gaddis, and this is rooted.
Daucus carota, also known as queen anne’s lace or wild carrot is native to the temperate parts of europe and asia, but has spread to north america and australia. Part of this cultivation is believed to be intentional (especially from early european colonizers, who used the plant in medicines and food). However, the vast majority of the spread is believed to have been unintentional, with the plant stowing away in seed bags and on clothing and animal fur- waiting for an opportune place to drop and grow. Queen Anne’s lace is part of the Apiaceae family, just like caraway ,corriander, cumin, celery, and parsley.
All members of the apiacae family are umbellifers, which basically means that their flowers look kind of like upside down umbrellas. Famously a lot of the members of this family look the same, so paying attention to the little details really matters here!
Queen anne’s lace is a biannual, which means it has a 2 year life span. In the first year, Queen Anne’s lace stays low to the ground, and only grows it’s leaves-it sends all it’s nutrients to the tap root for winter. The next spring it uses that stored energy to shoot up long green stocks and a large, flat flower head. The flower itself is made up of tons of little white flowers, with a cluster of purple flowers in the center. The stem is hairy, green, and gets woodier as the season progresses.
Once it is reay to go to seed, the flower starts to dry up and close in on itself, creating a shape many refer to as a birdnest. It will continue to dry as the seeds begin to form- starting as small green pods, but developing a brown outercasing with thick spines- perfect for latching on to clothing or fur. Once the flower head is completely dry, it can detach from the stock and blow like a tumble weed- giving it an even better chance to spread.
The root of this plant looks like a standard carrot with a few distinct differences- the first of which is that it isnt orange. Instead it is a long, thin yellow-ish white root. Its a little less robust or flavorful than our modern-day carrots, but we all start somewhere.
While all parts of queen anne’s lace are edible, it’s important to note that this plant looks almost identical to posion hemlock to the untrained eye. Some key differences are that:
Queen anne’s lace has a flat top, while poison hemlock has a top that is more rounded.
Queen anne’s lace has a purple flower in the center
See Also5 Garden Weeds You Can Eat!Poision hemlock has purple splotches on its hairless stem, while queen anne’s lace has a green and hairy stem
Queen annes lace root smells like carrot when dug up
You might be wondering WHY it’s called queen annes lace… well, there are a few variations of the story, but here is the gist:Queen Anne loved lace and was a very talented lace maker. One day upon seeing the flower, she was inspired to make lace as beautiful as it was, but pricked her finger while tatting and got a singe drop in the center.
Some versions of the story say she challenged her handmaids to sew the lace, but joined in herself, and others say that the drop of blood is actually a tragic symbol of her struggle with fertility. Queen Anne of She had a total of 17 pregnancies, and while she longed to be a mother, none of her children lived to adulthood. The thing about Anne though, is that she was a total badass. Despite all the hardship she enduring, including the loss of her husband and 2 young daughters to small pox in a matter of months, she ruled britain as a queen after her father died without birthing another heir, despite her step-mother’s attempt to stage one. If you haven’t looked into her story- I highly suggest you do.
BUT BACK TO HER FLOWER-
Due to it’s versatility and uncanny ability to grow anywhere, it should come as no surprise that queen annes lace has found applications in both magic and medicine for centuries.
Ancient Greeks created love spells with it that made men more passionate while encouraging women to be submissive. Apparently, Caligula served carrots at a feast in the hopes of inducing a "delightful orgy" for his viewing pleasure….what a freaking creep.
Early romans used it as a catch-all antidote against poisons…the story goes that Mithridates VI, King of Pontius (120bc-63bc) (with a little help from doctors of the time) concocted a substance called mithridatium, it was a sort of paste made of carrots, parsley, anise, and a few other things. , and he would eat a glob the size of an almon every day to protect him from the poisons he was SURE someone was trying to does him with….at one point he even poisoned himself, just to see if anything would happen..he lived through that, but was later stabbed to death…you win some, you lose some I guess.
Queen Annes Lace is used in fertility rituals by a variety of cultures, as carrot is believed to increase fertility in women and potency in men. It’s also said to represent purity, or the purity of intentions, as it has antiseptic properties as well. Of note, the seeds are actually said to bring on menstration, and were also used as a sort of early contraceptive. To this day, it is advised that women who are pregnant or hoping to become pregnant should not ingest these seeds.
Early 19th century doctors believed that if they hollowed out a carrot, filled it with a patient’s urine, and then hung it to dry near a chimney, it would cure jundaice AND bedwetting …just a gem to share with you all..
At the time it was Also used for removing warts- it was believed that you would hollow out a carrot, fill the hole with salt, then rub the goo on the wart up to 3x a day..after that you would bury the carrot somewhere, and when you forgot about it the wart would fall of.. No idea if it really worked, and honestly I am glad that’s not a common treatment today.
Carrots have also been used throughout history to soothe a variety of stomach issues. Because they containe so many vitamins and minerals, they are often touted as being helpful for our eyes (lots of vitamin A to prevent night blindness or cateracs), and great for preventing jaundice and scurvy…but only when eaten, NOT by being peed into.
Due to our rich history with Queen Anne’s Lace, it continues to play vital roles in our ongoing research and recipes. It’s being studied to help us better understand how to make our food groups take on traditional “weed-y”- thats the actual scientific term- characteristics like immunity to pests, ability to withstand drought or changing climates, adaptability, and regeneration- characeritics that tend to be bred out of our food crops over time.
Today queen Anne’s lace also continues to be a popular plant for foragers, herbalists, and witches alike! People often will make a tincture out of it o soothe their stomachs, collect the tops to fry, and dig up the root in early spring for a tasty addition to salads.
Because queen anne’s lace is considered a weed, harvesting it is generally considered to be a great way to help stop the spread- but like we talked about earlier- you need to be REALLY careful before snacking on anything you find in the wild. If you arent 100% sure it’s a wild carrot- meaning you dont see the purple center flower, hairy stems free of purple specks, and you aren’t smelling carrot- you definitely shouldnt eat it. If you want to get into foraging, be sure to do research on what grows natively in your region, and consider joining a local foraging group!
That’s it for this week, I hope you enjoyed learning a bit more about a weed you have probably seen a million times, but maybe never knew anything about.
Before we go- you NEED to know about something delightful I found in my research for this episode- the world carrot museum! Its the world’s first (and only) virtual carrot museum, and knowing it exists brings me endless joy. Unfortunately it looks like their website isn’t up and running, but they are still active on twitter (find them @carrotmuseum), and our friends at the library of congress have some captures! If you want to check them out, see the link in our show notes OR check out the transcripts for this episode at rootedpodcast.com
If you liked this show, please consider subscribing, and leaving us a review on spotify, apple podcasts, or anywhere else you listen. You can follow us on youtube, instagram and tiktok at Rooted.pod, and check out our website rootedpod.com for transcripts, updates, and so much more. Thanks for being here, and until next time, be kind to yourselves, be kind to the earth, and just like a plant- drink your water.
Sources:
https://hort.extension.wisc.edu/articles/queen-annes-lace-daucus-carota/
https://academic.oup.com/bioscience/article/66/10/912/2236147
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/23594914/
https://www.mda.state.mn.us/plants/pestmanagement/weedcontrol/noxiouslist/wildcarrot
https://www.farmersalmanac.com/what-queen-annes-lace
https://ameliasflowertruck.com/blogs/amelias-flowers/the-urban-legend-queen-annes-lace
https://theherbalacademy.com/daucus-carota-traditional-use/
Magic, Myth, and Medicine by Mildred E.Mathias
https://awesomeon20.com/herbs-in-witchcraft-carrots/
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Happy Carrotmas <a href="https://t.co/T1DpXrOpt3">pic.twitter.com/T1DpXrOpt3</a></p>— World Carrot Museum 🥕 (@carrotmuseum) <a href="https://twitter.com/carrotmuseum/status/1607733124418371585?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 27, 2022</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
https://twitter.com/carrotmuseum?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor
Lib of congress- https://twitter.com/carrotmuseum?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor
https://webarchive.loc.gov/all/20210811164728/http://www.carrotmuseum.co.uk/history.html
