Queen Anne's Lace: More Than Just a Weed

Queen Anne's Lace is found all over the United States and goes by many different names: Wild Carrot, Birds Nest Weed, Devils Plague, Fools Parsley, and Lace Flower. You have probably seen it growing by the roadside.

It grows two to four feet tall with the flower head made up of numerous tiny flowers. There may be a red or purple flower in the middle. This is too attract insects.

There are many stories as to how Queen Anne's Lace got its name. Probably the most popular one is that when Queen Anne was making lace she pricked her finger and bleed. The red flower in the center signifies the drop of blood from Queen Anne's finger. Another is that the flower reminded the British of Queen Anne's lace headdress. Yet another says the red flower in the center represents the queen and the white flowers around it is the queen's lace collar.

Queen Anne's Lace is a member of the carrot family and if you dig up the roots or break the stem and smell it, it will smell like carrots.

When young, the root is edible, but as it grows older it becomes tough and fibrous and doesn't' taste as good.

This flower has been in the United States since colonial times, probably its seeds come over her in bags of grain from Europe, maybe even with the pilgrims.

Queen Anne's Lace is biennial, which means that it takes two years to complete its life cycle. It isn't until the second year that the flower shows and produces seeds. Although it dies after the second year, during this year it produces many, many seeds which are widely spread and more plants will grow.

Some people will dry the seeds of Queen Anne's Lace and made tea with them.

It is also thought by some people that drinking a teaspoonful of seeds with a glass of water works as a morning-after contraceptive.

Some people use Queen Anne's Lace in making carrot cake or other recipes because it has more flavor than carrots you buy in the store.

If you are going to use Queen Anne's Lace for internal purposes make sure you are picking Queen Anne's Lace and not some other plant. Queen Anne's Lace looks very much like hemlock, which is highly toxic.

The way to tell the difference is to smell the roots or break the stem and smell it. Hemlock has a nasty smell while Queen Anne's Lace smell like carrots.

If you decide to plant these flowers in your garden, gather some dried seeds from the wild plants or you can buy the seeds wherever flower seeds are sold.