WILD CARROT (Daucus Carota), a biennial herb of the parsley family (Umbelliferae, q.v.), native to Europe, northern Africa and Asia and extensively naturalized in North America as a weed, often exceedingly perni cious in pastures, meadows and fields. It is the parent species of the common root vegetable from which it differs chiefly in the size and quality of the root. The wild carrot springs from a deep, fleshy, conical root, with an erect stem, 1 to 3 ft. high, bearing much dissected leaves and an immense number of small white flowers crowded in a large globose or flat-topped cluster (corn pound umbel), often 3 to 5 in. across, the central flower of each
umbel often purple. The ripening seed-vessels, which are small and bristly hairy, often form a hollow, somewhat spherical mass, open at the top, somewhat suggestive of a bird's nest. Because of this the plant is popularly called crow's-nest or bird's-nest. It is also known as Queen Anne's lace, because of the appearance of the flower clusters.