The wild carrot: a bee-friendly medicinal plant

The large, white flowers of the Wild Carrot are hard to miss in mid-summer. Whether on the roadside, in wildflower meadows, or even on fallow land in industrial areas – the Wild Carrot is commonly found in our regions. And that's pretty cool because the Wild Carrot provides food and shelter for many different insects during the summer. For example, the caterpillars of the Swallowtail butterfly absolutely love the Wild Carrot!

For humans as well, Daucus carota – the botanical name of the wildflower – is a valuable plant. The root vegetable of the Wild Carrot tastes very similar to our supermarket carrot, and the leaves and flowers can be excellently used in salads. But please read this blog post thoroughly before having a Wild Carrot snack! There are similarly looking plants that are toxic!

Identification aid and external characteristics of the wild carrot

The wild carrot is a herbaceous, biennial plant that you are guaranteed to have seen while out walking. Its growth height varies between 20 centimetres and 1 meter, depending on local conditions.

The stalk of the wild carrot has bristly hairs and longitudinal grooves. In outline, the leaves are pointed and triangular. The individual leaves are two to three-pinnate. At the beginning of the flowering period, the large, white flower umbel is initially flat topped. As soon as the fruiting period begins, the rays of the inflorescence draw together so that the flower umbel looks a bit like a bird's nest. Another distinguishing feature of the wild carrot is the dark purple (or in some cases even black) flower in the middle of the flower umbel. The fruit of the wild carrot is elongated and has small spines.

Occurrence and bee friendliness

By now, Daucus carota has spread as an invasive plant worldwide, but it originally comes from Europe, North Africa, and parts of Asia. In general, it can be said that this herbaceous plant is quite undemanding, which gives it a great evolutionary advantage. It thrives in wildflower meadows, on roadsides, in inhabited areas, and even on fallow land. Botanically speaking, the Wild Carrot belongs to the family of Umbelliferae (Apiaceae). It is related to anise, dill, caraway, and the garden carrot.

A variety of insects love the Wild Carrot because it offers them valuable nectar in the summer, which is why the Bee friendly Bee seed mix naturally contains Wild Carrot seeds. To attract insects, nature has come up with something very special for the Wild Carrot. In the middle of the bright white umbel, there is often a dark spot: the so-called "carrot flower." This carrot flower is usually purplish to black and is meant to deceive passing insects into thinking that another insect is already on the flower. Researchers speculate that this deceptive flower creates a kind of "food envy" in other insects, causing them to fly to the Wild Carrot out of fear of missing out. Pretty clever, right?

Location and care

The wild carrot is a very relaxed guest in your garden. It prefers a dry, warm location, but as long as it gets plenty of sun, it can cope with a lot. Ideally, you should plant the wild carrot in well-drained, dry and calcareous soil. However, the wild carrot will also forgive you if you do not strictly adhere to these soil conditions.

You don't have to worry about the care either. Simply water your Daucus carota regularly when it's really hot; apart from that, you really don't need to pay attention to anything else.

Medicinal plant and use in the kitchen

Not only insects love the wild carrot. We humans can also benefit from the wild flower's healing properties. In its first year of growth, the wild carrot enriches its root with sugar so that we can harvest it from September. In terms of taste, the thickened main root is reminiscent of the garden carrot (i.e. the normal “supermarket carrot”), although wild carrots are somewhat milder. If you wait too long and only harvest the carrots in their second year of growth, you will need a good set of teeth. This is because the older the plants, the woodier the carrots become.

The leaves and flowers of the wild carrot can be used to make salads or as edible decoration. People have known for thousands of years that the wild carrot not only tastes delicious, but also has healing powers. Daucus carota alleviates the symptoms of diarrhea and contains lots of carotene, which is converted into vitamin A in the body

But before you go harvesting wild carrots, you should know one thing in advance: Some plants from the umbellifer family look very similar to wild carrot - but they are very poisonous! There is a risk of confusion with spotted hemlock, poisonous water hemlock and dog parsley. To distinguish the wild carrot from its poisonous counterparts, you need to take a close look at the flower: If you see a “carrot flower” (i.e. the black dot in the middle of the white flower), you can be relatively sure that it is Daucus carota.