Queen Anne's lace (2024)

Quick facts

Queen Anne's lace is aninvasive species.

  • Queen Anne’s lace is an invader of disturbed and newly restored areas where it can outcompete other species due to its faster maturation rate and size.
  • Tends to decline as native grasses and forbs reestablish.

CAUTION: May cause phytophotodermatitis where sap touches the skin and is exposed to sunlight; wear long sleeves if handling. Also can easily be confused with the native, yet deadly, poison hemlock.

Queen Anne's lace should be reported.The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources provides detailed recommendations for reporting invasive species.

Queen Anne's lace (1)

How to identify Queen Anne's lace

  • Biennial herbaceous plant, one to four feet tall.
  • Also known as wild carrot, Queen Anne’s lace smells like a carrot and is the ancestor of the garden carrot.
  • Appears as rosette in its first year.

Stem

  • Consists of one or several hairy hollow stems growing from one central stem, each with an umbrella-shaped flower cluster at the top.

Leaves

  • Alternate, featheryand lacy leaves start immediately below the flower, increasing in size down the stem.
  • They are pinnately divided.

Flowers

  • Compound, tiny individual white flowers arranged in a flat-topped umbel, two to four inch diameter.
  • The umbel becomes concave when reaching maturity.
  • Often there’s one dark red or purple flower in the center of the umbel.
  • Flowers bloom May through October.

Seeds

  • Barbed, small, brown, oval, flat seeds with hooked spines promote dispersal by animals and wind.
  • Seeds survive in the soil for one to two years.
  • When the seed head dries it curls up in the fall and looks like a bird’s nest.

Roots

  • Slender, woody taproot with carrot-like smell.
  • More woody than domesticated garden carrots.

Queen Anne's lace (2)

Queen Anne's lace (3)

Angela Gupta, Extension educator; Amy Rager, Extension educator; Megan M. Weber, Extension educator

Reviewed in 2019

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Queen Anne's lace (2024)

FAQs

What is the meaning of the poem Queen Anne's lace? ›

Rather than being simply a poem about a flower, “Queen-Ann's-Lace” represents an intense human experience, a moment during which the poetic imagination transforms straight observation of a common wildflower into a sensuous—and sensual—moment of awareness.

What is the spiritual meaning of Queen Anne's lace? ›

Queen Anne's Lace has delicate lace-like flowers and is associated with beauty. The flower is sometimes referred to as 'bishops flower' and therefore it has become to symbolise sanctuary, safety and refuge.

What is Queen Anne's lace tincture used for? ›

Queen Anne's lace infusions are often used by those with kidney and bladder infections, cystitis, and gout (Hoffman, 2003) to flush toxins from the body. Some herbalists even suggest Queen Anne's lace infusions for clients with arthritis for this same reason.

What happens when you touch Queen Anne's lace? ›

What To Know About Queen Anne's Lace. While this wildflower is also toxic, contact with it will not cause problems for many people. 4 Some will develop skin irritation or blistering from the sap, and ingesting large amounts of it can also cause discomfort.

What does the Queen Anne's lace tattoo mean? ›

Queen Anne's Lace Symbolism

Because the flower is sometimes referred to as “bishop's flower,” it symbolizes safety, sanctuary, and refuge. Although another interpretation is due to the flower's resemblance to a bird's nest when it goes to seed—it then becomes the perfect symbol of the sanctuary of a happy home.

What is the legend of Queen Anne's lace? ›

Legend has it that Queen Anne, the wife of King James I, was challenged by her friends to create lace as beautiful as a flower. While making the lace, she pricked her finger, and it's said that the purple-red flower in the center of Queen Anne's Lace represents a droplet of her blood.

What are the effects of Queen Anne's lace? ›

Queen Anne's (Daucus carota) lace may have arrived in the U.S. as a seed contaminant in grain and through planting in gardens. It invades disturbed dry prairies, abandoned fields, waste places, and roadsides. Queen Anne's lace is a threat to recovering grasslands.

What are the benefits of Queen Anne's lace tea? ›

Queen Ann's Lace is a wonderfully cleansing herb, supports the liver, stimulates the flow of urine, diminish kidney stones, treat digestive disorders and a good choice for colic, upset stomach, flatulence and gout.

Is Queen Anne's lace beneficial? ›

Many people consider Queen Anne's lace an invasive weed (it is listed as a noxious weed in at least 35 states), but it is used by some native animals for food. It is a host plant for eastern black swallowtail caterpillars and many butterflies and adult bees and beneficial insects utilize the flower nectar.

What is a fun fact about Queen Anne's lace? ›

FUN FACT. One out of every four Queen Anne's Lace plants has a chance of developing a single, purple flower in the center of the plant.

What is the most poisonous plant in the world? ›

1: Oleander

The oleander, or Nerium oleander, is considered by many to be the most poisonous plant in the world. All parts of the beautiful oleander contain poison — several types of poison. Two of the most potent are oleandrin and neriine, known for their powerful effect on the heart.

What is the black dot in the middle of Queen Anne's lace? ›

The spot is just a small dark floret, or flower. However, one old story suggests that it symbolizes a drop of blood that was accidentally shed by Queen Anne while she was making a lace doily. Listen to or read a poem by William Carlos Williams called “Queen-Anne's Lace”: “…

What does like ladies skirts across the grass mean? ›

In this instance, he uses a simile. He claims that a sound that sounds very much like the wind is produced when the skirts of the girls paint against the grass. He also claims that the wind blows nonstop all day long and that it sounds like a loud song.

What does the flower poem mean? ›

First published in the 1633 collection The Temple, "The Flower" is George Herbert's meditation on human pride and divine mercy. The poem's speaker reflects with wonder that, though he's been through times of hardship and darkness, God has renewed him once again, making his soul rise up like a spring flower.

What is the poem woman with flower about? ›

Woman with Flower sums up Living The Wisdom Of The Tao.

Too much nurturing and prodding can harm or stunt the flower. “And wait until it's dry before you water it.” Overwatering is just as harmful as under-watering. Too much water causes shallow roots or, worse, root rot.

What does it mean when someone says Queen Anne's dead? ›

'Queen Anne is dead' is a response made to someone who has relayed stale news or stated the obvious. One explanation of the origin of this rejoinder is that the Queen's death was kept quiet until the Hanoverian succession was assured.

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