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Queen Anne’s Lace – Butterfly Host Plant and Blueberry Protector

Queen Anne's lace (Daucus carota) is a biennial and is also known as Wild Carrot, Bird's Nest Weed, Bee's Nest, Devils Plague, garden carrot, Bird's Nest Root, Lace Flower, Rantipole, Herbe a dinde and Yarkuki. In some states it is designated as a noxious weed.

queen anne's lace

The World Carrot Museum states that the name “‘Herbe a dinde' derives from its use as a feed for young turkeys – dinde.” (Personally, I'd never heard of that name before. Maybe it's a UK thing?)  

The Woodrow Wilson Foundation Leadership Programs for Teachers cites the origin of the name as follows:  “Queen Anne’s Lace is said to have been named after Queen Anne of England, an expert lace maker. When she pricked her finger with a needle, a single drop of blood fell into the lace, thus the dark purple floret in the center of the flower.”

Range and Identification of Queen Anne's Lace

Where does Queen Anne's Lace Grow?

Queen Anne's lace is commonly found along roadsides and meadows, and in gardens. Depending on your location it blooms May through August. If you spot what looks very much like a carrot, popping up where you didn't plant any carrots, it's likely a wild carrot. It is a native of temperate regions of southwest Asia and most of Europe and now thrives around the world.

USDA Daucus Carota range map

Queen Anne's lace plant (Daucus Carota) also known as wild carrot - Range and identification, food and medicinal use, craft uses.

Wild carrot is a biennial, like garden carrots. The first year it grows in a low cluster of leaves, the second year it shoots up a hairy flower stalk and then dies. Depending on conditions, some plants may flower the first year. (This also happens with garden carrots under stressful conditions such as extremes of moisture or temperature.) See “Growing Carrots – Quick Guide, Step by Step Instructions and Carrot Q&A” for more information on carrot cultivation.

Plants are 1-3′ tall, and have a white tap root. They will readily cross-pollinate with garden carrots.

Wild Carrot Leaves

The young seedlings look very much like carrots. The photo below shows wild carrot on the left, garden carrot on the right.

queen annes lace vs carrot

Queen Anne's lace leaves are fernlike, up to 8″ long. The leaf type is twice compound, the leaf attachment is alternate (from the Wildflowers of Wisconsin Field Guide).  

Note: The sap of Queen Anne's lace can cause phytophotodermatitis, just like all members of the carrot family. Symptoms of phytophotodermatisis include an itching rash and blisters. For more info on phytophotodermatitis and how to avoid it, see “My Worst Gardening Mistake – Parsnip Burn AKA Phytophotodermatitis“.

Queen Anne's Lace Flowers

Wild carrot flowers are borne on a hairy stalk shooting out from the base leaves. Flower heads are 3-5″ wide, and are composed of dozens of tiny white flowers, each 1/” across. In the center of the flower head, there is a single purple to black floret. (Not every flower head has this dark floret, but it is common.)

Although I think the flowers are quite lovely, I'm careful to avoid letting them go to seed in the garden. A single plant can have hundreds of seeds, and they stay viable in the soil for years. (Why is it that wild cousins are so much more durable than their domesticated counterparts?)

When the seed heads dry, they curl up into a “nest” shape, accounting for the various “nest” names. Guy Queen Anne's lace seeds here.

queen anne's lace seeds

For related information on weeds, I really enjoyed Susun Weed book Healing Wise.

Wildlife Uses of Queen Anne's Lace

The plant acts as a host plant for the black swallowtail butterfly.

If you're interested in raising butterflies in your home or learning more about butterflies, I highly recommend The Family Butterfly Book. I prefer the swallowtails on wild carrot instead of my garden dill or carrots.

Illinois wildflowers details wildlife uses of wild carrot:

The nectar and pollen of the flowers attract primarily small bees, wasps, flies, and beetles. Wild Carrot Wasps (Gasteruption spp.) are among these floral visitors. Other insects feed destructively on the foliage, roots, and other parts of Wild Carrot (Daucus carota). These species include root-feeding larvae of Listronotus oregonensis (Parsley Weevil), root-feeding larvae of Ligyrus gibbosus (Carrot Beetle), root-feeding larvae of Psila rosae (Carrot Rust Fly), foliage-eating larvae of the moth Melanchra picta (Zebra Caterpillar), and foliage-eating larvae of the butterfly Papilio polyxenes asterius (Black Swallowtail); see O'Brien (1997), Arnett & Jacques (1981), Cranshaw (2004), Wagner (2005), and Bouseman & Sternburg (2001). Another insect, Melanoplus bivittatus (Two-striped Grasshopper), feeds on the foliage, while Allonemobius allardi (Allard's Ground Cricket) feeds on the umbels of flowers (Gangwere, 1961).

Wild Carrot is a summer host for such aphids as Cavariella aegopodii (Willow-Carrot Aphid), Dysaphis apiifolia (Hawthorn-Parsley Aphid), Hyadaphis foeniculi (Honeysuckle-Fennel Aphid), and Hyadaphis passerinii (Blackman & Eastop, 2013; Cranshaw, 2004). Among vertebrate animals, seeds of Wild Carrot are eaten by the Ring-necked Pheasant, Ruffed Grouse, and Pine Mouse (Martin et al., 1951/1961). The aromatic and somewhat bitter foliage of this plant is browsed sparingly by mammalian herbivores. Occasionally White-tailed Deer will chomp off the upper half of flowering plants during the summer, while the Cottontail Rabbit occasionally eats the lower leaves (personal observation). The burry fruits containing the seeds can cling to the fur of some mammals and the clothing of humans, thereby introducing them to new locations (Lacey, 1981). The foliage of Wild Carrot is preferred as nesting material by the European Starling. Because of the antibacterial and insecticidal properties of the foliage, this appears to benefit the health of hatchlings by reducing the number of nest lice and other parasites (Clark & Mason, 1985; Clark & Mason, 1988).

Food Uses of Queen Anne's Lace

Queen Anne’s Lace contains vitamins K, B and C; pectin, lecithin, glutamine, phosphatide and cartotin; and it has flavonoids and essential oils.

As the name “wild carrot” would imply, the root of Queen Anne's lace is edible, as are the leaves and flowers. Queen Anne's Lace roots are high in sugar. CAUTION: Pregnant women should not consume Queen Anne's lace in any form, as it may cause uterine contractions.

Before using any part of the plant, make sure you do not confuse it with wild hemlock or water hemlock, which both look similar and are poisonous. The stem of poison hemlock is smooth with purple splotches, while the stem of queen anne's lace is hairy with no splotches. Queen Anne's lace smells like carrot when the foliage is crushed. Wild hemlock smells musty. For more details and photo comparisons, see “How to Tell the Difference Between Poison Hemlock and Queen Anne's Lace“.

Harvest roots for cooking during the first year, before the plant goes to seed. Romans, early Europeans and early Americans cultivated and harvested Queen Anne’s lace. They boiled and ate the roots. The roots can also be dried, roasted, ground and used as a coffee substitute, in a manner similar to chicory. The young leaves can be eaten in a green salad or tossed bits into soups as a spice. The flower heads can dipped in batter and fried as fritters.

Queen Anne's Lace jelly is delicious – delicate and floral with a hint of peach flavor. For an added twist, pair it up with red currants. You can check out the recipe in the post “Queen Anne's Lace Jelly with Currants“.

Craft Uses of Queen Anne's Lace

For those of a crafty inclination, wild carrot flowers can be pressed and dried and used as decorations. They keep their form very nicely. You may enjoy using them for homemade greeting cards, scrapbooking or decoupage. If you don't have access to your own, dried pressed flowers are available for purchase, such as these on Amazon. Historically it was also used as perfume, by simply socking the flowers in in water.

The flower heads of the herb when simmered in a pot of water have been used as orange/yellow dye. If you treat your undyed textile/fiber with alum and cream of tartar and then dye it with the flower head mixture, it will give a longer lasting dye.

You can also use the flowers for a nifty science experiment to show how plants draw up water using capillary action. Simple clip some blossoms (try not to smash the stems) and place them in some water with food coloring in it. The blooms will slowly change color as the plant draws in water from below. You can keep it simple, or make up a multi-colored arrangement.

queen anne's lace blossom

Medicinal Uses of Queen Anne's Lace

Ryan Drum has more experience with Queen Anne's Lace than most, and shares it on his site, Island Herbs.

The Woodrow Wilson Foundation Leadership Programs for Teachers offers the following outline of medicinal uses:

Traditionally, tea made from the root of Queen Anne’s Lace has been used as diuretic to prevent and eliminate kidney stones, and to rid individuals of worms. Its seeds have been used for centuries as a contraceptive; they were prescribed by physicians as an abortifacient, a sort of “morning after” pill. The seeds have also been used as a remedy for hangovers, and the leaves and seeds are both used to settle the gastrointestinal system.

It is still used by some women today as a contraceptive; a teaspoon of seeds are thoroughly chewed, swallowed and washed down with water or juice starting just before ovulation, during ovulation, and for one week thereafter. Grated wild carrot can be used for healing external wounds and internal ulcers. The thick sap is used as a remedy for cough and congestion.

Research in China has confirmed that the seeds are an abortifacient. The leaves of Queen Anne's Lace and carrots contain significant amounts of porphyrins. Porphyrins stimulate the pituitary gland and may lead to increased levels of sex hormones.

Other historical uses for Queen Anne's Lace included treatment of bladder conditions and reportedly reduced or prevented gas/flatulence.

(bactericidal) Early American settlers and traditional Chinese used Queen Anne's lace sometimes mixed with honey to create a poultice for sores or ulcers, providing anti-bacterial  protection.

Queen Anne's Lace Attracts Beneficial Insects in Organic Blueberry Patch

I received an interesting comment when discussing weeds on LinkedIn from an organic blueberry grower who uses the plants to attract beneficial insects.

Theodore E. James Jr. shared this information:

As I wrote to you, we have planted Queen Anne's Lace amongst our certified organic (Certified by Oregon Tilth) blueberries. They attract a parasitic wasp that attacks the drosophila fly that is spreading throughout the Pacific Northwest, attacking blueberries, cherries, blackberries, and other soft skin fruit. We do not have spray the drosophila because of the wasps solving the problem for us!

Here's a photo of his Queen Anne's lace in action.

queen anne's lace with blueberries

Learn to Use and Appreciate the Weeds

“Weeds” are just plants that grow without being planted – or where you may not want them – but they serve a purpose. I always tell the boys, “Nature abhors a vacuum.” If there is an empty niche, it gets filled. Our weeds hold the soil in place, plow compacted subsoil, draw up nutrients, provide medicine, feed wildlife (and people) – they are a treasure, not a curse. As you tend your yard and garden and the soil improves, unwanted volunteers will either disappear on their own, or be much easier to manage.

Recommended resources:

Thanks so much for stopping by to visit. Help stop the overuse of herbicides by spreading the word about putting our weeds to work and sharing this post.

You may also find useful:

Originally published in 2011, updated in 2017.

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30 Comments

  1. Really appreciate your articles – this was interesting. And I appreciate the link to the naturalist school!

  2. While beautiful, I’ve found Queen Anne’s lace to be terribly invasive, and I regret introducing it to my garden. It is trying to take over, and is very difficult to pull up.

    1. Yeah, we have abundant volunteers, but I wouldn’t introduce it in an area that I want to keep cultivated. If I let some in the regular garden, I make sure to pick a plant that’s in a corner that’s out of the way, and dead head before the seeds spread.

  3. Great article. Thanks so much for posting it. Here in the Far North of New Zealand Carrot weed is considered a pest but you have opened my eyes. It always annoyed me that something so beautiful could b so invasive. Thank you. I can now appreciate its benefits and learn to love it.

  4. Do you think garden carrots or parsnips would have the same effect in attracting the wasp that eats the fruit fly? I can’t have queen annes lace in or near my garden while I’m growing second year carrots and parsnips to save seed and there would be cross pollination.

    1. I don’t know for sure and can’t find any good info on it, but butterfly larva are certainly willing to eat my carrots and dill, so I’m suspecting the parasitic wasp larva would do the same.

  5. This information is so exciting to read. Thank you Laurie for putting in the time to educate your readers about this beautiful “weed”. As soon as the sun comes up and morning chores are done, I am planting my Queen Anne’s Lace amongst my blueberries. I hope it is not too late as I do see it growing every where else! around here.

    1. You’re welcome, Laurel. It’s nice to see people taking an interest in these plants instead of trying to kill them all. I still have seedlings popping up outside, so hopefully your new ones will catch, too.

  6. One of my favorite jobs was as an administrator for an aromatherapy distributor. We started getting frequent orders for Daucus Carota/wild carrot seed essential oil. Queen Anne’s Lace. Our description of its properties were that it was nourishing to aging skin. They were formulating a massage oil that was used in a spa treatment to smooth out the decollette, or skin at the base of the neck and between and above the breasts. Mature women were avidly pursuing a way to look good in plunging necklines. The owner collaborated with us in marketing his formula and treatments.

    And regarding the “Herbe de Dinde” phrase, I know enough about french to recognize French phrasing. I looked up a definition, which yielded this: https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/dinde This praseh could have been a pun, a common amusement at English Court. “Dinde” would have been pronounced “Dan-deh”. A dandy is a term used to describe a fashion-conscious and playful young guy. Lace was big fashion in men’s dress in those days, and I can imagine spry young guys strutting and bobbing among the young ladies of the day in much the way Queen Anne’s Lace bounces and sways in a breeze.

  7. I love your blog, but I gotta say, it weirds me out that people mention this as birth control for several reasons – the most secular being that you either have to buy or collect these seeds (can either be expensive or time consuming) when a perfectly free option exists: NFP (Natural Family Planning). Not sure if you have heard about this, but by simply observing a woman’s cervical mucus through her cycle (and also taking temps – which increases the effectiveness of this method to the same as birth control pills – but can be done with mucus alone) a woman can figure out when she is fertile and simply abstain – this is a great method to know in a disaster situation, too (I only bring this up since your site deals with this, too). It is something you might want to check out and include if you find it useful. The Couple to Couple league has classes, but there is also a great secular book called “Taking Charge of Your Fertility”. Also, as a plug, I have to mention the 5% divorce rate of couples that use this method – VERY LOW!

    On a more religious note, this is an abortifacent, which inhibits a fertilized egg from implanting in the womb by making the uteran lining slippery. For those who believe that a person is given a soul from the moment of conception, this is a morally wrong way to plan your family. Really, we can’t just guess at that important moral question, and I take it on faith that that is when life begins, but when a soul is given to a person seems too important a thing to leave to opinion – I think it is better to be safe than sorry. I hope this isn’t too religious to get deleted, but I am a huge promoter of NFP!

    1. Re: Debbie’s post
      Actually if your religion follows the Bible, there is nothing, literally nothing that states that a soul is tied to conception. Literally every mention of new life is tied to the word ‘breath’ which happens after birth or when ‘life is breathed into’ Adam. It’s a sad, tired not even tied to the actual religion chestnut that gets trotted out whenever women try to manage their lives and bodies.

      And as for the stats about the rhythm method of family planning, at best it’s only 75% effective https://www.hhs.gov/opa/pregnancy-prevention/birth-control-methods/natural-family-planning-and-fertility-awareness/index.html

      And your claim that there is only a 5% divorce rate among users is unsubstantiated without a link to your “data”. If it’s lower at all it speaks more to a woman being denied her right to more effective birth control by her husband or church and feeling financially unable to be divorced and raise a brood of children as a single mother. Does the “data” also include how many women commit suicide when they are pregnant and feel abortion is not an option? Does it include women who die during botched illegal abortions as well because that is probably inflating your “data” as well.

      1. Have you ever heard the phrase, “There are three kinds of lies: lies, damn lies and statistics”?

        The CDC/US government numbers say 75% effective. UK number say up to 99% effective. From NHS Natural family planning (fertility awareness):

        If natural family planning is followed correctly, it can be up to 99% effective. This means that 1 woman in 100 who use natural family planning will get pregnant in 1 year.

      2. Does the young leaf of Queen Ann’s Lace have hairs? I have gathered some & all characteristic match Queen Ann’s Lace except the leaf is not hairy.

  8. Ha, I love Queen Anne's Lace! I remember picking them when I was a child in Maine, and I loved the carroty smell of the roots. I didn't know all this info, especially the medicinal uses. They don't grow out here, sadly.