{"id":4890,"date":"2022-07-27T14:39:10","date_gmt":"2022-07-27T21:39:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/depts.washington.edu\/hortlib\/?post_type=pal&p=4890"},"modified":"2024-04-11T10:01:15","modified_gmt":"2024-04-11T17:01:15","slug":"dark-flower-on-queen-annes-lace","status":"publish","type":"pal","link":"https:\/\/depts.washington.edu\/hortlib\/pal\/dark-flower-on-queen-annes-lace\/","title":{"rendered":"Dark flower on Queen Anne’s lace"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Queen Anne’s lace photo courtesy of Jennifer Rose, copyright 2022 <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I\u2019ve noticed that some Queen Anne\u2019s lace flowers have a dark red spot in the center, like a flower but somewhat elevated and larger than the rest of the white ones. Does it have a purpose?<\/strong><\/p>\n

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Daucus carota<\/em>, the wild form of the edible carrot, is a biennial plant that forms a rosette of leaves in its first year, and an inflorescence in its second year–an umbel made up of mostly white flowers, often with the reddish purple floret (the term for a flower within an inflorescence) at the center, as you noticed.<\/p>\n

Even the plant\u2019s common name gave rise to tales about that red spot. In the book Wildflower Folklore<\/a> by Laura C. Martin, the author mentions a story that \u201cthe queen was making lace when she pricked her finger,\u201d and the deep red floret resembles a drop of blood. Questions about the purpose<\/a> of that floret have a long history. Charles Darwin stated that it had \u201cno functional importance,\u201d and more recent and conflicting studies suggest that it either attracts and guides pollinators, or it repels the predations of insects. An article in Plant Species Biology<\/em><\/a> (April 20, 2012), \u201cThe function of the wild carrot’s dark central floret: attract, guide or deter?,\u201d does not dismiss the attraction or deterrence theories, finding value in both. They note that flowers that have a dark central floret tend to have fewer galls, so the floret might repel gall midges by mimicking the appearance of a gall.<\/p>\n

Anecdotally, I have noticed that common red soldier beetles<\/a> seem to like visiting\u2014and even mating\u2014on the umbels of Queen Anne\u2019s lace. Whether that deep red floret attracts them because its color is similar to their own, I can\u2019t say.<\/p>\n

Daucus carota<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I\u2019ve noticed that some Queen Anne\u2019s lace flowers have a dark red spot in the center, like a flower but somewhat elevated and larger than the rest of the white ones. Does it have a purpose?                             Daucus carota, the wild form of the edible carrot, is a biennial plant that forms a rosette of leaves in its first year, and an inflorescence in its second year–an…<\/p>\n

Continue reading Dark flower on Queen Anne’s lace<\/span><\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"menu_order":0,"template":"","keyword":[1157],"class_list":["post-4890","pal","type-pal","status-publish","hentry","keyword-daucus-carota"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/depts.washington.edu\/hortlib\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pal\/4890"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/depts.washington.edu\/hortlib\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pal"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/depts.washington.edu\/hortlib\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/pal"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/depts.washington.edu\/hortlib\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/depts.washington.edu\/hortlib\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4890"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"keyword","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/depts.washington.edu\/hortlib\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/keyword?post=4890"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}