The Story of Queen Anne’s Lace
It grows wild along road sides. Is it friend or foe?
Another Wild Flower Tale
As a young girl growing up in the country, this is one flower I remember fondly. During the summer and early fall we would often have a fresh bouquet sitting in a vase on the table to show Mom we loved her. She taught us that a drop or two of food color in the vase could change the color of our bloom so we often had pink or blue Queen Anne ’s lace.
She Ate them!
Then when I moved to New York as a young woman, my minister’s wife, who happened to have a Girl Scout troop informed me that she taught the girls to cook and eat the flowers as part of their nature studies and survival training. Finally I got around to finding out if we can actually eat Queen Anne’s lace so I thought I would share my findings with you.
Myself, I like to look at them. Look at the delicate white blossom with the numerous floweret’s and tiny purple centers.
Photo from the Society for Environment Education
If you are a nature lover like I am you may want to encourage this “weed” or wildflower from taking root near your gardens:
Queen Anne’s lace Benefits Your Garden
Known as Queen Anne’s Lace (Daucus carota) or Wild Carrot, the plant provides us with numerous benefits:
- The caterpillar of the Eastern Black Swallowtail butterfly feast from the leaves
- Other insects drink the nectar
- Other predatory insects (those who rid our gardens of unwanted insects such as aphids) are drawn to this flower.
- The taproot was once familiar to us as the carrot and is edible. Its carrot is not consistent with the carrot we know now.
- The leaves of the plant, however, are not edible and may irritate the skin. I found other sites below that contradict this.
http://www.fcps.edu/islandcreekes/ecology/queen_annes_lace.htm
Used for Years as a Contraceptive
While searching the web regarding this plant I came across an interesting site which claims Queen Anne’s lace has been used somewhat successfully as a contraceptive. For more information regarding these claims read: http://www.sisterzeus.com/qaluse.htm
Prescribed for Gout and Digestive Disorders
Ryan Drum at http://www.ryandrum.com/ states he has prescribed Queen Ann’s Lace (QAL). According to him while he has not used the flowers medicinally Phyllis Light of Clayton College, AL concocts leaf and blossom infusions and syrups for the treatment of endocrine disorders.
QAL seeds have been harvested while the flower is half mature and used for treatment for cancer, cystitis, and bladder and urinary tract infections. According to some of the personal experience of female staff he has worked with the mere handling of the seeds (for long periods of time daily) would induce their menstrual cycle, and they were unable to become pregnant during the time they worked directly with the seeds.
Hemlock or Carrot Leaves/One is Poison
The leaves of the hemlock, which closely resemble the QAL leaves, are considered toxic:
http://www.carrotmuseum.co.uk/queen.html
At the carrot museum we learn more about the leaves of the wild carrot, with pointed differences between the hemlock and QAL leaves:
- A carrot scent – rub the leaves between gloved fingers. Smell the crushed leaves. If it smells like carrots, you have QAL. If not, do not ingest!
- Hemlock is on the right. It is smooth.
- QAL is on the left and it appears hairy.
How did the Flower get its Name?
The origin of Queen Anne’s lace was quite fascinating but also somewhat cloudy.
- The name Wild Carrot was first used by William Turner and dates back to 1548.
- While the name QAL is an American name, it also refers to plant in England known at cow parsley or antrhiscus sylvestris.
- Was it named after Queen Anne of Great Britain, second daughter of James II? She married Prince George of Denmark in 1683.
- The many florets in the flower resembled the collar often worn by Queen Anne, and the purple center represents the royalty of her majesty.
- Another fable states the tiny purple dot represents finger prick of blood the queen may have lost while creating her lace collar.
- An English botanist, Geoffrey Grigson suggests the plant actually comes from Saint Anne, the mother of the Virgin Mary and patron saint of lace makers.
- Queen Anne was quite proficient at creating lace and challenged the women of her court to produce a lace as delicate and beautiful as the flower.
Health Uses Found at Carrot Museum
- soothe the digestive tract
- stimulate the uterus
- aid in fertility and sexual potency
- aid in contraception
- menstrual problems
- diuretic
- treat threadworms
- urinary stones
- dropsy
- diabetes
- cystitis
At this site I also find a recipe for jelly, wild carrot cake and even paper made from the plant. For the sake of argument, I found the recipe for jelly which contains 18 large Queen Anne’s lace heads, so my minister’s wife was right. You can eat them.
Aren’t they pretty? I like them no matter what color they are.
www.emilycompost.com
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30 Responses to “The Story of Queen Anne’s Lace”
On July 5, 2009 at 5:27 am
Great article. I learned something new from you, sister. Give you liked it.
On July 5, 2009 at 6:38 am
Beautiful article, and great information, Judy!
On July 5, 2009 at 6:39 am
A very enjoyable and interesting article, well written!
On July 5, 2009 at 6:44 am
Very informative and interesting.
On July 5, 2009 at 10:13 am
Chan, Icy, Patrick, & Melody, thanks so much for your support.
Take care & be blessed
On July 5, 2009 at 11:51 am
Love this great article. Very well written. Beautiful picture.
On July 5, 2009 at 12:51 pm
Wow! Great article Judy! I didn’t know that one single flower had so many benefits!! SUd
On July 5, 2009 at 2:30 pm
You’re right. They are pretty and interesting. Thanks for an educational post.
On July 5, 2009 at 4:00 pm
Quite interesting!
Blessings.
Sincerely,
-Liane Schmidt.
On July 5, 2009 at 5:14 pm
Mrs. Heart, it’s nice to place a face with your name; a nice one too. Thanks for the support.
Alexa, thanks so much for your support, love your new avatar & thanks for the SU!
Anne, I love your new avatar. My Triond family is not only smart, but beautiful! Thanks for your support.
Liane thank you also for your support. I love your new avatar at fb.
Blessings everyone. Take care.
On July 5, 2009 at 7:56 pm
Great article Judy! Lots of researched info here…they are pretty to look at but I don’t think I’d want to eat them.
On July 5, 2009 at 9:20 pm
Wonders of the world around us…I knew most of this. Nicely done. The part about lab workers not being able to get pregnant while handling the seeds is interesting. When my daughter was in girl scouts, we dipped the flowers in batter and fried them. Delicious!
On July 5, 2009 at 9:23 pm
Excellent post!!..very informative and well presented article..I do enjoyed reading your work..Thanx for sharing this great advices..
On July 5, 2009 at 9:27 pm
Nick, come on, are you sure? I heard you can saute them in butter and sprinkle them with sugar. lol
Thanks for the support. Take care & God bless.
On July 5, 2009 at 9:40 pm
Daisy, I’m going to have to try this. It seems I can’t find any this year.
Mr. Ghaz, thanks for your warm support, and you also, Daisy.
Be blessed & take care.
On July 5, 2009 at 10:06 pm
Awesome information.
On July 5, 2009 at 10:27 pm
Queen Annes Lace grows abundantly here. I didn’t know it was edible. I do know in the summer they are full of chiggers. As children we had chiggers when we gathered the flowers.But we gathered them anyway.
On July 6, 2009 at 4:14 am
The name Wild Carrot was used long before Turner. The Ancient Greeks, Pliny the Elder in Roman times and many herablists from the 10th C onwards.
On July 6, 2009 at 7:03 am
This is very informative especially to those looking for alternative, natural ways to cure their sickness.
I also learned from a war veteran that one of the ways to find out if a flower is edible or not is to look for ants feeding on it. If ants are present, then, it must be edible.
Thanks Judy.
On July 6, 2009 at 7:30 am
Valli, Ruby, & Carrot Museum, thanks so much for adding your comments & reading my article.
Carrot Museum,
The search engine gives me 10 carrot museum sources when I used the saved link;
http://www.carrotmuseum.co.uk/queen.html (from my research) but I was able to find the source I derived the information from regarding the use of the name wild carrot. It reads:
\”The common name Wild Carrot was given by William Turner in 1548. Queen Anne\’s Lace is an American name, but it also refers to a plant in England, cow parsley – anthriscus sylvestris. The popular title of the Wild Carrot \”Queen Anne\’s Lace\” comes from several sources none of which is definitive\”.
If I misunderstood the content, I apologize. I am honored by your visit. I always try to do my best to give complete and accurate information, and am grateful for any further information the reader can add.
Take care & God bless.
On July 6, 2009 at 8:23 am
A fascinating inisht in to a little known plant. Thanks for the share.
On July 6, 2009 at 8:22 pm
Patrick, thanks for that very useful tip, and also for the comment!
R J, thanks for the comment. It is appreciated.
Take care & God bless.
On July 7, 2009 at 5:52 am
Really interesting article and pictures. I think this is what I know as ‘Cow Parsley’ but Quen Anne’s Lace is much more romantic.
On July 7, 2009 at 8:43 pm
Louie, I love the name too. I loved researching this one and I came away learning.
Thanks for the support.
Take care & God bless!
On July 14, 2009 at 6:52 pm
thanks for the background, I was looking for bloom time b/c I want to take some photos for a woodcut print I’m doing. But I forgot all about it with your interesting article!
On July 14, 2009 at 10:23 pm
I’d love to see your wood cut print. It is such a pretty flower! Thanks for the comment.
On July 20, 2009 at 3:38 pm
Your articles always have much information and I like these pictures too. Thanks.
On July 20, 2009 at 3:39 pm
I like your article and the pictures are beautiful.
On July 20, 2009 at 7:17 pm
Moses, you doubled my pleasure. lol Thanks for two comments!
Take care & God bless!
On October 16, 2009 at 9:05 pm
Excellent article…
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