Wild Carrot, Caucus carota
Family: Apiaceae; Parsley Family
Vegetative Characteristics:
Seedling: cotyledons linear, smooth; first leaf pinnately decompounded
Stems: erect, to 1.5 m tall, freely branching, glabrous or scabrous
Leaves: basal rosette and alternate upward, to 15.0 cm long and 7.0 cm wide, pinnately decompound; oblong in general outline with ultimate divisions linear, lanceolate, or oblong; glabrous hispid on midribs
Reproductive Characteristics:
Inflorescences: erect terminal umbel, 7.0-15.0 cm wide, on long peduncle; small, white except for a central purple flower
Fruits: umbel rays curve inward after anthesis, producing a congested “bird’s nest” cluster of fruits
Seeds: mericarp, ovoid, 3.0-4.0 mm long, about 2.0 mm wide, broadest at the middle, with rows of barblike trichomes
Special Identifying Characteristics:
⇒ erect biennial herb; umbel terminal, large; flowers white except central purple flower
