Wednesday, August 10, 2011

Q/ Alphabe-Thursday

QUEEN Anne's lace (Daucus carota) growing on the side of a road

Most people in Ontario call this wildflower  - some say noxious weed - Queen Anne's lace. But this plant is also known as wild carrot, bird's' nests and bishop's lace.

The lace part is pretty easy to explain, but why Queen Anne's? The dark red in the centre of each umbrel represents a droplet of Queen Anne's blood where she pricked herself with a needle while making the lace.

Wild carrot? Cultivated carrots were developed from this plant...centuries ago.

Birds' nests? Please keep reading.


Queen Anne's  lace growing beside railroad tracks

Europeans brought Queen Anne's lace to North America as a medicinal plant. Now across much of Ontario it grows in old pastures, meadows, waste places and along roadsides and even railway tracks.

Queen Anne's lace just opening out

Umbrels of Queen Anne's lace are pink when they first open.  When in full bloom each umbrel turns white and the top is concave. (See first photo.)

Birds' Nests?

After they go to seed,  the umbrels contract again resembling a birds' nests.

I am linking to Jenny Matlock at Alphabe-Thursday HERE


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35 comments:

  1. Míriam LuizaAugust 10, 2011 at 3:29 PM

    Que lindas essas flores! Eu não conhecia!

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  2. jocoAugust 10, 2011 at 3:46 PM

    Nice to put the railway track picture in with this sequence.So many plants spread their seeds by means of the railways.

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  3. TexWisGirlAugust 10, 2011 at 4:05 PM

    nice shots and great info on this lovely!

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  4. JudieAugust 10, 2011 at 4:46 PM

    One of my favorite flowers of all time! And I did know it is in the carrot family. What a wonderful post!!!! Your photos are terrific!!

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  5. kayerjAugust 10, 2011 at 4:48 PM

    very pretty

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  6. My Oatmeal KissesAugust 10, 2011 at 4:49 PM

    So cool!

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  7. Personalized Sketches and SentimentsAugust 10, 2011 at 4:50 PM

    Beautiful! Thank you so much for sharing this info too! I love to hear the stories behind things! I've never heard of them called Bird's Nests, but yes, it is a fitting name! I think that they are like a bundle of little wedding bouquets!

    Blessings & Aloha!
    Oh! Thank you so much for your lovely visit. I love sewing the Cathedral Windows quilt, and once I kept it out for me to work on (especially on road trips), it was completed pretty quickly...it was that I had it put away for so long :o) ...now on to another baby quilt :o)

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  8. Rocky Mountain WomanAugust 10, 2011 at 4:57 PM

    One of my very favorites!

    lovely pics..

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  9. AnonymousAugust 10, 2011 at 4:57 PM

    Quite lovely! And thanks for the science lesson, too. I enjoyed learning about a flower I've always loved.

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  10. RoseAugust 10, 2011 at 5:00 PM

    You just told me a lot of stuff I did not know...we have it everywhere down here, too.

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  11. jennyfrecklesAugust 10, 2011 at 5:13 PM

    Fascinating stuff. It's a pretty flower, we have similar here and I think that's the one we call Lady Lace. I was interested in your comment about Fireweed on my blog too - I didn't know that.

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  12. Lois EvensenAugust 10, 2011 at 5:19 PM

    Lovely to see Queen Anne's Lace at all stages. There is plenty of it here in Ohio, too.

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  13. Barbara F.August 10, 2011 at 5:33 PM

    I love these photos, especially the train tracks! I never knew these were called birds' nests. Thanks for stopping by. xo,

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  14. PatAugust 10, 2011 at 7:15 PM

    One of my favorite wild flowers - in all its stages...your images are just wonderful and show the lifespan of this old fashioned flower.

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  15. Judy August 10, 2011 at 7:51 PM

    I always seem to learn something here. Wonderful photos!

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  16. MichelleAugust 10, 2011 at 9:39 PM

    This grows on our farm and I love it.

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  17. AndreaAugust 10, 2011 at 9:53 PM

    very informative, but that first photo is very beautiful with those patterns of different colors parallel to each other. I love it. I wonder what part of the flower is that red part or "blood part".

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  18. GeorgeAugust 10, 2011 at 10:18 PM

    I've always known this as Queen Anne's Lace. Thanks for the explanation of the other names. Thanks, too, for the wonderful pictures.

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  19. KathyAugust 10, 2011 at 10:23 PM

    We have tons of Queen Anne's lace around these parts and I even featured it on my blog I believe back in May or June but I certainly don't remember ever seeing the "drop of blood" in the center. I need to go back and look at my photo! Thanks for all the info.

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  20. JackAugust 10, 2011 at 10:31 PM

    Very pretty. Birdman showed some Queen Anne's Lace recently, too.

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  21. AnonymousAugust 10, 2011 at 10:32 PM

    Beautiful pictures, and I love the stories you've included about Queen Anne's Lace.

    Teresa

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  22. Small City ScenesAugust 10, 2011 at 11:26 PM

    Beautiful, EG and the info is wonderful.
    We have Queen Anne's Lace growing just about everywhere here too.

    Love you collage in the previous post.

    MB

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  23. IndraniAugust 11, 2011 at 12:42 AM

    This is informative! I didn't know it belongs to carrot family.

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  24. AnonymousAugust 11, 2011 at 4:50 AM

    Your post has definitely given this queen her due. Nice job!

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  25. FranciscaAugust 11, 2011 at 5:40 AM

    Terrific Q post. I know next to nothing about Queen Anne's Lace, except that it's pretty. Great to see the different stages of development. And your macro is delightful... with the frame.

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  26. Theresa PlasAugust 11, 2011 at 6:20 AM

    You always have the BEST photos on Alpha T's! I did not know that about the prick of blood...very interesting...thanks for sharing all.

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  27. HalcyonAugust 11, 2011 at 8:58 AM

    Very interesting. I haven't seen any in my neighborhood yet, but I'll be on the lookout. :)

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  28. GattinaAugust 11, 2011 at 10:43 AM

    It grows here too, like weed ! I never thought that it had such a sophisticated name, lol !

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  29. Susan AndersonAugust 11, 2011 at 12:00 PM

    It's lovely! And well-named, too.

    =)

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  30. ellen b.August 11, 2011 at 9:24 PM

    I like this weed and it's great to use in bouquets...
    Nice shots...

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  31. Lucas KainAugust 12, 2011 at 3:39 AM

    Nice! ^^ Haven't seen any of those for a loooong time. But probably due to the reason I've been stuck in the city. Thanks!

    ___
    call Nepal

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  32. Ann, Chen Jie Xue 陈洁雪August 12, 2011 at 5:42 AM

    This is beautiful, they show us different stages of the flower in one day. I like your pink in the new flower. I had a similar recording last summer.

    We have another polar blast in our South Island, yet we have a glorious day in Auckland.

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  33. PondsideAugust 13, 2011 at 12:47 PM

    I've been making bouquets of Queen Anne's Lace for the past two or three weeks. We seem to have a lot of it in the field this year and I love it!

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  34. UnknownAugust 13, 2011 at 9:56 PM

    Wow, what a pretty flower :) These are very lovely shots of the flowers in its various stages of growth! I wonder why some people consider them weeds.

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  35. JennyAugust 17, 2011 at 11:27 AM

    I love Queen Anne's lace. I find it hard to categorize that amazing floral work of art as a weed. It is just stunning.

    I'm intriqued with the idea of laying it on a board and spray painting over it to see if it would cast the image, but, alas, it doesn't grow here in Arizona.

    Thanks for quite a lovely link to the letter "Q".

    This made my heart smile.

    A+

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