The Story of Carrots

The garden carrot is Daucus carota subsp. sativus (Kew).

How it was found

Kew (subspecies, the garden crop): as a cultigen from Central Asia to Afghanistan. Native list: Afghanistan, Uzbekistan. Introduced list includes parts of Europe, East Asia, and elsewhere. USDA GRIN (subsp. sativus): known only in cultivation.

Kew (species Daucus carota L., which includes wild carrot / Queen Anne’s lace): native range Macaronesia to North Africa and Ethiopia, Europe to southern China — that species-level list is the wild taxon, not the garden crop, and is labeled as such. UCCE Solano: Queen Anne’s lace native to temperate Europe and southwest Asia; now wild in California and most of the United States.

UC Desert REC: purple and yellow carrots were the original carrot colors; orange is a more recent varietal. Sonoma MG: ancient carrots were likely nearly black. UCCE Solano distinguishes wild Queen Anne’s lace as the parent of cultivated carrots.

How people used it

Kew species page: Daucus carota is used for food (also animal food). Kew general information: subsp. sativus is cultivated for edible, usually orange storage roots; a major root vegetable and fodder crop. Sonoma MG: staple food for centuries in Europe, Africa, and Asia. UC IPM garden page treats Daucus carota as the home-garden carrot.

Kew lists the species as a medicine. UCCE Solano: colonists brought Queen Anne’s lace, the wild parent, to North America and used it as a medicinal plant.

Timeline

1. 1753

   The wild species named

   Kew: Daucus carota L. first published in Sp. Pl.: 242 (1753); the species is accepted. Cultivated forms are an accepted subspecies, not a separate species.

   Kew POWO — Daucus carota L.

2. 14th century (one variety)

   Black Spanish, a purple type

   Napa UCCE Master Gardeners: the Black Spanish carrot is a reddish-purple type thought to have been brought to Spain in the 14th century from North Africa.

   Napa MG — Purple In My Garden

3. 1834

   The garden subspecies named

   Kew accepts Daucus carota subsp. sativus (Hoffm.) Schübl. & G.Martens, first published in Fl. Würtemberg: 179 (1834). Homotypic synonyms include Daucus carota var. sativus Hoffm. (1791). USDA GRIN: Fl. Würtemberg 179. 1834.

   Kew POWO; USDA GRIN

4. Since the 1960s

   Holtville trials

   UC Desert REC: since the 1960s, USDA carrot variety trials at Desert REC (Holtville, “Carrot Capital of the World”) have been the winter site of the USDA carrot breeding program based at the University of Wisconsin. A California winter lab for an Asian cultigen.

   UC Desert REC — Purple is the New Orange

Cool to know

Growing notes for this plant live on the Plant Wiki.