Queen Anne's Lace
Wild carrot was introduced and naturalised in North America, where it is often known as "Queen Anne's lace". Both Anne, Queen of Great Britain, and her great grandmother Anne of Denmark are taken to be the Queen Anne for which the plant is named . It is so called because the flower resembles lace; the red flower in the center is thought to represent a blood droplet where Queen Anne pricked herself with a needle when she was making the lace. The function of the tiny red flower, coloured by anthocyanin, is to attract insects.
The USDA has listed it as a noxious weed, and it is considered a serious pest in pastures. It persists in the soil seed bank for two to five years.
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Wild carrot in flower
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Wild carrot plant
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A young Queen Anne's Lace with red flower in center
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Queen Anne's lace in southern Maine
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Queen Anne's lace on Prince Edward Island
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Queen Anne's lace in Michigan
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Dried seed pod near Cincinnati, OH
Read more about this topic: Daucus Carota
Famous quotes containing the words queen and/or lace:
“Ah petal, dust and wind-fall
on the ground queen awaiting queen.”
—Hilda Doolittle (1886–1961)
“When they shot him down in the highway,
Down like a dog in the highway,
And he lay in his blood on the highway, with the bunch of lace at
his throat.”
—Alfred Noyes (1880–1958)