Carrot Flower
It is late summer, the time of year that the carrot flower beckons. She calls from the vacant lots, the highway greenways, the tree pits and all the other urban habitats out of which she carves a home. And there are plenty of homes as it doesn’t take much for she doesn’t need much. With sliver of soil, the smallest crack in the pavement, she can reach down with her long, thin taproot to draw up water and nutrients buried deep underground. Add enough bright sunlight and a sprinkling of rainwater now and then and she thrives.
She calls us to admire her tall flower stalks topped with an umbel-shaped flower head carrying many tiny white flowers. They delicately blanket the view with a lace-like quality which lends to her other common name - Queen Anne’s Lace. Once pollinated the flower heads curl up into themselves with each flower producing one small seed. The curled, browned flower stalks holding the small brown seeds look like
birds nests, which coincidentally is another common name for this plant. As it so happens, one plant can have many different common names - names made by people of a place in the language of the people. Common names can be very descriptive and often shed light on key features of the plant, any medicinal or edible value, the landscape where it lives, or the season of growth. An oral history in a name. Plants are also given Latin names, this helps to create a streamlined language in which to communicate about plants which allows people of different places and languages to speak of their beloved plants and find connection. Latin names define the relationship between plants as well as a plant’s features or growing places. Another oral history in a name.
The flowers are beautiful sources of food for butterflies, moths, beetles and bees. Keep them or plant them in your green space to add beauty and sustenance to your life and the lives of those around you. Wild carrot makes a great, low maintenance addition to any wildflower border or meadow. Collect seeds early - mid September if you’re here in the Northeast USA. The seed is mature - ready to be planted - once it browns and falls easily from the stalk.