How do you recognise Wild carrot (Daucus carota)?

Leaf

Bertrand BUI, Tela Botanica · CC BY-SA 2.0

Wild carrot

Daucus carota L.

Also known as: Queen Anne's lace

Family: Apiaceae

30 cm to 1 m tall

Dry meadows, banks, path edges

Flowering: June – August

Full sun

Part shade

Very hardy, to -24°C

❓ How do you recognise this plant?

A single dark purple flower often sits in the centre of the white umbel — a classic identification clue. Similar pale roots, but cultivated parsnip has broader, toothed leaves whereas wild carrot has very finely divided, almost feathery foliage, like that of fennel.

🍃 Leaves

Finely divided, fern-like, smelling of carrot when crushed

🌸 Flowers

White in a flat umbel, often with a single dark purple central flower

🍎 Fruits

Small achenes bristling with hooked spines

🪵 Bark

Biennial herbaceous plant with an upright stem, branched in the upper part.

🗺️ Distribution

Europe, western Asia, North Africa; very common in dry meadows and wasteland in France.

🐝 Value for pollinators

Large white umbels very rich in nectar, extremely attractive to a wide diversity of pollinating insects.

✂️ Horticultural uses

Wildflower meadows, naturalistic borders; wild ancestor of the cultivated carrot.

⚠️ Possible toxicity

Root edible at maturity; beware of confusion with other Apiaceae, some of which (hemlock, water-dropworts) are highly toxic. Never eat a wild Apiaceae on appearance alone, especially at the vegetative stage before flowering.

⚠️ Look-alike species

Wild carrot

Daucus carota

Parsnip

Pastinaca sativa

Similar pale roots, but cultivated parsnip has broader, toothed leaves whereas wild carrot has very finely divided, almost feathery foliage, like that of fennel.

Wild carrot

Daucus carota

Poison hemlock

Conium maculatum

Wild carrot has a hairy stem and smells of carrot when crushed, whereas hemlock has a hairless stem, often blotched with reddish purple at the base, and a foul smell. These are good clues, but none is a guarantee on its own: if in the slightest doubt, never eat a wild Apiaceae.

🌿 Other Apiaceae to discover

Anthriscus cerefolium

ℹ️ Educational profile — do not use it to judge whether a plant is edible or safe.

🌱 This database is constantly evolving — species and information are added and corrected regularly. Spotted a mistake? Report it below.