A Little Bit More
One of summer's most common roadside plants, Queen Anne's Lace or Wild Carrot (Daucus carota) is an alien that some consider a troublesome weed. Introduced from Europe, it has spread throughout much of North America and is often extremely common in dry meadows, roadsides, and waste places. The Wild Carrot is a member of the parsley family, Apiaceae (ay-pee-AY-see-ee). Other well-known members of this family include celery, parsnips, dill, parsley, caraway, chervil, coriander, and Socrates' poison hemlock.
All garden carrot varieties probably originated from the Wild Carrot and it is believed that their cultivation goes back more than 1,000 years in Europe and Asia. The actual origin of the domestic carrot is unknown but is believed to have been somewhere along the coast of the Mediterranean. Originally, the Wild Carrot and similar plants were probably used for medicinal purposes, and this use may have brought them to the attention of early farmers. Carrots were known to have been cultivated in France, Germany, and the Netherlands in the 14th century (paintings dating from this period sometimes include them) but they did not look like our present day, orange-colored vegetable. An orange carrot, the color we automatically associate with carrots, probably originated in the Netherlands during the 17the century; before that, carrots were purple or yellow!
Queen Anne's Lace flower before opening
If you're curious about what a wild carrot looks and tastes like, pull up a Queen Anne's Lace's pale yellow root and sample it; it won't have the flavor of our current carrots, but should give you an idea of what we started with.
Activities
Edible Roots
Objectives: Bring in a variety of edible roots for the students to see and taste
Materials: Variety of rooted vegetables
Most of us don't think about where on a plant our food comes from, but many of the vegetable items we buy at the grocery are a kind of root. This activity is a nice way to start students thinking a little more about the food they eat. Many students will have sampled only a few of the rooted vegetables on this list.
Go to your local grocery store and select as many of these vegetables as you can find. If you tell the fresh produce manager that you're doing this for a class project, there's good chance he/she'll give them to you. Once the students have had a chance to look them over, you may want to cut off pieces for sampling. Depending on the age of your students, you may find that many are unwilling to try something new but once they see others sampling the fare, most will want to try also.
Carrot
Kohlrabi
Potato
Sweet Potato
Turnip
Radish
Beets
Horseradish (be careful with tasting this one - it's hot!)
Rutabagas
These rooted vegetables have stored food for the production of next year's growth. The students may find this information encourages them to eat more vegetables.
Key Concepts
Structures and Functions, Life Cycles, Identification
Questions
Do you have a question for a naturalist? Go ahead and ask!
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Posted by nazish aziz on May 06, 2005 at 09:34 AM
Q: tell me about how the roots grow to become as a flower?
A: Mike,
The job of the roots (underground) is to carry energy and water to the growing plant (above ground). The plant is made up of millions of microscopic cells that continue to grow and divide until the plant reaches maturity. Some cells are destined to be part of the leaves, some the stem, some the flower, and so on and so on.
The roots absorb water and dissolved minerals in the soil that become "food" for the growing plant. The "food" is passed from cell to cell from the roots to the flower and every part in between!
Posted by Mythili Thedchanamoorthy on April 12, 2005 at 12:06 PM
Q: Hi,
I live near Taylor Creek Park in Toronto, Ontario Canada. I enjoy eating sprouts, young plants and leaves from nature. What are the plants I can eat in Early spring from the Marsh area/park? Also like artichokes are the common Thistle buds edible?(purple flower).
Thank you
Mythili
A: Looking forlocal plants to eat can certainly add some fun to your outings but needs to be done with caution. Don't want to scare anyone but it's important to BE SURE of the identify of any plant one might sample. One needs to be aware also that some areas are sprayed for insects and/or weeds so be sure that there are no chemicals on anything you may want to try. And then there's the issue of whose land can one "sample from"? Take a look at this web site and see if it doesn't provide some answers and also more links to get you started.
www.naturalhub.com Also, this book is older but certainly a classic -
"Stalking the Wild Asparagus" by E. Gibbons and should still be available. Although artichokes are in the thistle family, the common thistles around the northeast are definitely NOT edible.
Bon appetite.
Posted by Rick on July 24, 2004 at 09:49 PM
Q: Somewhere in the back of my mind, I recall the root of Daucus Carota/ Queen Anne's Lace being mildly poisonous. Is this true?
A: I hadn't heard that Queen Anne's Lace was toxic so did a bit of research to see what I could find. Did find that although it is NOT toxic to humans, it has been know to be mildly toxic to cattle and horses in Europe - no record here in North America. You may be familiar with the fact that the ancestor of our tomatoes is toxic but years of plant breeding has produced our current, very edible product. The ancient Greeks and Romans used carrots for medicinal purposes and even people today use them for assorted reasons.
Posted by Kay on April 22, 2004 at 04:18 PM
Q: Can you give me an example of root hairs that we eat and can buy in a grocery store?
A: No, I can't. We certainly eat different roots (carrots and turnips,for example) but not root hairs. I think the tiny root hairs are simply too small for us to use as food. Root hairs make it possible for plants to absorb moisture and nutrients they need for growth.
Posted by Niki on November 23, 2003 at 08:40 PM
Q: Do the roots of flowers and other plants absorb warm or cool water faster?
A: Warmer water has more energy (the water molecules are moving more quickly) and therefore diffuses into plant cells more quickly than colder water does.
Posted by Denise on October 30, 2003 at 09:51 PM
Q: My daughter is doing a project at school, she has to ask a question abouts flowers her question is, Why do flowers have roots? Also where can get more resources?
A: Flowering plants have roots that serve 3 important needs. They provide an anchor to hold plants in place, they provide water to keep the plant with needed moisture, and they provide the plant with basic nutrients to help it grow. Good question. We often take many of these basic functions for granted in the natural world.
For more resources, I'd first look on the internet and see what you can find. You may also be able to find some books in a library that are appropriate for your child but you may find that many will be more oriented to older students (6-9th grades) rather than elementary.
Posted by emily on May 02, 2003 at 12:13 PM
Q: What are the basic functions of roots? What are the structures of a root
A: Roots anchor a plant and absorb water and nutrients for plant growth. Roots have xylem and phloem and other tissues that are similar to the portion of the plant growing above ground. The tiny root hairs at the end of the roots are the portion of the root that absosrb water and nutrients.
Posted by carmen on April 11, 2002 at 10:39 AM
Q: What country originated the carrot?
A: Carmen - Wild carrots grow in many different countries so no one is sure exactly where the domestic carrot got started. It is believed that it began somewhere along the Mediterranean coast.
Posted by victoria on March 17, 2002 at 12:40 PM
Q: At the end of the second year after the queen anne's lace has produced its flower, do we need to do anything to the plant for it to again produce flowers. And will it continue to produce flowers biennially? Also, if we were to leave a carrot in the ground and not cultivate it would it also produce flowers in the second year as does the queen annes lace?
A: Victoria, the plant will have produced its root in the first year, flowers and then seeds in the second year and then die. So....no, it will not produce biennially after seed production, that particular plant is finished. Yes, the domestic carrot will behave just as its wild ancestors do and produce flowers in the second year. Then the plant will die.