Calling All Rabbits by Diana Sainz

The carrot is a variable biennial plant, usually growing up to 1 m tall and flowering from June to August. The umbels are claret-coloured or pale... more

by Diana Raquel Sainz

Title

Calling All Rabbits by Diana Sainz

Artist

Diana Raquel Sainz

Medium

Photograph - Photography - Digital Photography

Description

The carrot is a variable biennial plant, usually growing up to 1 m tall and flowering from June to August. The umbels are claret-coloured or pale pink before they open, then bright white and rounded when in full flower, measuring 3�7 cm wide with a festoon of bracts beneath; finally, as they turn to seed, they contract and become concave like a bird's nest. The dried umbels detach from the plant, becoming tumbleweeds.
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Similar in appearance to the deadly poison hemlock, D. carota is distinguished by a mix of bi-pinnate and tri-pinnate leaves, fine hairs on its stems and leaves, a root that smells like carrots, and occasionally a single dark red flower in its center.
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The wild ancestors of the carrot are likely to have come from Iran and Afghanistan, which remain the centre of diversity of Daucus carota, the wild carrot. Selective breeding over the centuries of a naturally occurring subspecies of the wild carrot, Daucus carota subsp. sativus, to reduce bitterness, increase sweetness and minimise the woody core, has produced the familiar garden vegetable.
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In early use, carrots were grown for their aromatic leaves and seeds, not their roots. Carrot seeds have been found in Switzerland and Southern Germany dating to 2000�3000 BC. Some relatives of the carrot are still grown for their leaves and seeds, such as parsley, fennel, dill and cumin. The first mention of the root in classical sources is in the 1st century. The modern carrot originated in Afghanistan about 1100 years ago. It was purple in the 10th century in such locations as the Middle East, India and Europe. It appears to have been introduced to Europe via Spain by the Moors in the 8th century. The 12th-century Arab Andalusian agriculturist, Ibn al-'Awwam, describes both red and yellow carrots; Simeon Seth also mentions both colours in the 11th century. Cultivated carrots appeared in China in the 14th century, and in Japan in the 18th century. Orange-coloured carrots appeared in the Netherlands, where the flag included orange, in the 17th century. These, the modern carrots, were intended by the antiquary John Aubrey (1626�1697) when he noted in his memoranda "Carrots were first sown at Beckington in Somersetshire Some very old Man there [in 1668] did remember their first bringing hither." European settlers introduced the carrot to Colonial America in the 17th century.
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Purple carrots, still orange on the inside, were sold in British stores starting in 2002

Uploaded

June 7th, 2014