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Daucus carota
I think you'd have to have the leaves/stem (root if you're really lucky!) to be able to properly ID it. Sorry, Rosendo!
For an accurate ID for most plants, you need a little more information about the specimen, like leaves, etc. Do you have other shots of this plant?. A year ago, we had the same discussion with another spotter. Yarrow Vs Queen Anne's lace. It was the leaf structure that helped us ID the plant.
See, I don't think it is A. Sylvestris... It looks similar but they definitely do not look the same. The sylvestris seems to have more distinctive floret groupings from what I can tell? I did a quick image search and the images for the cow parsley look pretty different than the QAL that I recognize from the fields here! Thoughts? (And what an interesting convo!)
Thanks for your comment, Ben. I'm kind of interested because I have an either-or spotting in my collection, too. It's all good ...
Unfortunately Suzanne, those admittedly anecdotal sightings came before I had any interest in the taxonomy of QA lace, and thus couldn't really say.
Ben ... which makes them Anthriscus sylvestris maybe? I dunno ... the other complication is both Daucus carota and Anthriscus sylvestris are commonly called Queen Anne's Lace. In any event, I agree with you and Emily, whichever one it is, it's commonly called Queen Anne's Lace.
Question. How reliable is the small pink-purple "floweret" in the center in distinguishing Daucus carota from Anthriscus sylvestris?
I think this is actually Queen Anne's Lace, and not Common Yarrow. There are a few differences... the shape of the flowers is one (this one is flat, the yarrows are usually slightly dome-shaped), and the actual flower blooms are slightly different, and the grouping of yarrow blooms is a bit more evenly distributed while the QA has a more condensed grouping in the center, like yours here. QA forms a perfect circle (it's umbral), while yarrow clumps in no particular arrangement (it could be circular, but not necessarily) It's unfortunate you don't have any leaves included here - that's a dead give away to tell the difference! These two are commonly (and easily!) mistaken between the other. What are your thoughts? :)