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I've been pulling these because, though pretty, when they start going to seed the seeds will stick to clothing and itch like burrs.
Must check if they've hairy stems. My hands and arms sure itch after pulling them. They do smell carroty. We let a crop of carrots go to seed one year.
Wild carrot
Daucus Carota & Pusillus: Edible Wild Carrots
I’ve never understood the confusion over identifying the Wild Carrot also called Queen Anne’s Lace: It has a flat white blossom with a red spot in the middle, hairy stems and stalk, and the white root that smells like carrot. As the blossom ages it folds up looking like a bird’s nest. That seems quite easy to me, and was when I was a kid. Wild carrots were a common pasture plant. I tried eating more than one root raw, along with some dirt. The key is to find them at the end of their first year before the roots grow woody their second year. However, often that woody part can be peeled off and the root made edible.
( Read more... )
Water Hemlock
Here is the toxic Hemlock flower. Note how it is much more open with large spaces between the clusters compared to the wild carrot. It also lacks the "Kermit the Frog" collar.
***************************************
http://www.foragingtexas.com/2008/08/queen-annes-lace.html
Standing in showy white clusters along many Texas roads, Wild Carrots are an interesting spring/summer plant. They are the mother-species of domestic, orange carrots but Wild Carrot roots are white and also rather woody. I usually just use the "carrot" for flavoring soups and stews but then remove and discard them before eating the meal. The seeds are a spicy substitute for celery seeds.
Hemlock is an extremely poisonous plant which looks very similar to wild carrots. Luckily there are several ways to tell them apart:
1. Wild carrot flower stem is hairy, hemlock flower stem is smooth/have no hairs.In some cases the stem hairs of the wild carrot are not easily seen but if you run your finger along it's stem it will feel like day-old razor stubble.
2. Wild carrot flower stem is solid, hemlock flower stem is hollow.
3. Wild carrot flower stems are green and occasionally have long, reddish stripes. Hemlock flower stem have red/purple spots of assorted size and the occasions partial stripes but will be purple at the bottom.
4. Wild carrot flower stems are not powdery, hemlock flower stems often have a white powder on them.
5. Wild carrot flowers (umbels) are arranged in a a thick, tight pattern with only a small amount of open space between them. Hemlock flowers are much more sparse and have open areas between the smaller flower clusters making up the umbel head.
6. Wild carrots usually don't grow more than 3-6 feet tall, hemlock can grow 6-9 feet tall.
7. Wild carrot flower umbels will curl up into a "bird's nest" when they dry, hemlock umbels remain in their original "umbrella" shape when they die and dry up. This is my problem. The seed heads on my plants stay open usually (must pay better attention)...... all the better to spread their burr like devil spawn seeds.
************* ggggggggrrrrrrrrrrrr
( Read more... )
******** Conium maculatum Poison Hemlock
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conium_maculatum
It is a herbaceous biennial plant that grows to 1.5–2.5 m (5–8 ft) tall, with a smooth, green, hollow stem, usually spotted or streaked with red or purple on the lower half of the stem. All parts of the plant are hairless (glabrous). The leaves are two- to four-pinnate, finely divided and lacy, overall triangular in shape, up to 50 cm (20 in) long and 40 cm (16 in) broad. The flowers are small, white, clustered in umbels up to 10–15 cm (4–6 in) across. When crushed, the leaves and root emit a rank, unpleasant odor often compared to that of parsnips. It produces a large number of seeds that allow the plant to form thick stands in modified soils.
Must check if they've hairy stems. My hands and arms sure itch after pulling them. They do smell carroty. We let a crop of carrots go to seed one year.
Wild carrot
Daucus Carota & Pusillus: Edible Wild Carrots
I’ve never understood the confusion over identifying the Wild Carrot also called Queen Anne’s Lace: It has a flat white blossom with a red spot in the middle, hairy stems and stalk, and the white root that smells like carrot. As the blossom ages it folds up looking like a bird’s nest. That seems quite easy to me, and was when I was a kid. Wild carrots were a common pasture plant. I tried eating more than one root raw, along with some dirt. The key is to find them at the end of their first year before the roots grow woody their second year. However, often that woody part can be peeled off and the root made edible.
( Read more... )
Water Hemlock
Here is the toxic Hemlock flower. Note how it is much more open with large spaces between the clusters compared to the wild carrot. It also lacks the "Kermit the Frog" collar.
***************************************
http://www.foragingtexas.com/2008/08/queen-annes-lace.html
Standing in showy white clusters along many Texas roads, Wild Carrots are an interesting spring/summer plant. They are the mother-species of domestic, orange carrots but Wild Carrot roots are white and also rather woody. I usually just use the "carrot" for flavoring soups and stews but then remove and discard them before eating the meal. The seeds are a spicy substitute for celery seeds.
Hemlock is an extremely poisonous plant which looks very similar to wild carrots. Luckily there are several ways to tell them apart:
1. Wild carrot flower stem is hairy, hemlock flower stem is smooth/have no hairs.In some cases the stem hairs of the wild carrot are not easily seen but if you run your finger along it's stem it will feel like day-old razor stubble.
2. Wild carrot flower stem is solid, hemlock flower stem is hollow.
3. Wild carrot flower stems are green and occasionally have long, reddish stripes. Hemlock flower stem have red/purple spots of assorted size and the occasions partial stripes but will be purple at the bottom.
4. Wild carrot flower stems are not powdery, hemlock flower stems often have a white powder on them.
5. Wild carrot flowers (umbels) are arranged in a a thick, tight pattern with only a small amount of open space between them. Hemlock flowers are much more sparse and have open areas between the smaller flower clusters making up the umbel head.
6. Wild carrots usually don't grow more than 3-6 feet tall, hemlock can grow 6-9 feet tall.
7. Wild carrot flower umbels will curl up into a "bird's nest" when they dry, hemlock umbels remain in their original "umbrella" shape when they die and dry up. This is my problem. The seed heads on my plants stay open usually (must pay better attention)...... all the better to spread their burr like devil spawn seeds.
************* ggggggggrrrrrrrrrrrr
( Read more... )******** Conium maculatum Poison Hemlock
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conium_maculatum
It is a herbaceous biennial plant that grows to 1.5–2.5 m (5–8 ft) tall, with a smooth, green, hollow stem, usually spotted or streaked with red or purple on the lower half of the stem. All parts of the plant are hairless (glabrous). The leaves are two- to four-pinnate, finely divided and lacy, overall triangular in shape, up to 50 cm (20 in) long and 40 cm (16 in) broad. The flowers are small, white, clustered in umbels up to 10–15 cm (4–6 in) across. When crushed, the leaves and root emit a rank, unpleasant odor often compared to that of parsnips. It produces a large number of seeds that allow the plant to form thick stands in modified soils.
