Carrot

Carrot, common name for a plant (see Parsley) native to Eurasia and northern Africa and widely distributed throughout the North Temperate Zone; the name is also applied to the root of this plant. The wild variety, popularly known as Queen Anne's lace, has a tough, woody root, unsuitable for food. The cultivated variety is the popular table vegetable. It is a biennial. During the first season of its growth it forms a rosette of finely divided leaves and stores a surplus of food in its root, which thus becomes large and fleshy. First-season carrots are harvested for food. If left in the ground for a second season, a terminal bud in the center lengthens, at the expense of the food stored in the root, into a bristly branched stem 91 to 152 cm (36 to 60 in) high. This stem bears a nestlike umbel of white or pinkish flowers, the central flower of each umbelet often being purple. The fruit consists of two one-seeded nutlets, each of which has four rows of radiating spines, which cause the ripe seeds to cling to animals and thus to be dispersed to new locations.

Popular varieties among cultivated carrots are the Oxheart, the Chantenay, the Danvers Half-Long, and the Danvers Long. Large-rooted late types are used for stock feeding and are relished by farm animals. Carotene is the orange coloring matter of the root, a prolific source of provitamin A. In the United States, California and Texas are the foremost carrot-producing states.

Scientific classification: The carrot belongs to the family Apiaceae (formerly Umbelliferae). It is classified as Daucus carota. The cultivated variety is classified as Daucus carota variety sativa.