Family: Umbellifers (Apiaceae)
Flowering time: June–September
Height: 30–100 cm
Habitat: dry meadows, along paths and road verges
Common carrot (Daucus carota) is a biennial plant with a slender, whitish taproot, which in cultivated forms of the carrot is orange or yellow and greatly thickened. An upright, branched stem is covered with bristly hairs and leafed with two- to three-pinnately divided leaves. At the top of the shoots, small white flowers form compound umbels. In their center is often developed a single dark purple flower. The composite inflorescences are initially flat; as the spiny fruits mature, the umbel rays stand upright. For common carrot, the characteristic are the pinnately divided leaves forming an involucre (leaves developed at the base of the composite umbel).
It grows especially on dry soils in sunny locations and is a common and widely distributed species in Slovenia. Common carrot is also used as a medicinal plant, with which people ease mainly digestive and metabolic problems.
