Wild Carrot (Queen Anne’s Lace): Herbalism, Contraceptive History, and Botanical Caution
a deep dive into the folklore, reproductive history, medicinal actions, and research behind this complex and captivating plant.
I’ve been seeing Queen Anne’s Lace gaining traction online lately, especially in posts that highlight its traditional use as a natural contraceptive or abortifacient. And while I love seeing herbal knowledge getting some attention, I think it’s just as important to really slow down and get to know the plant—not just what it’s said to do, but what it is.
That means learning to recognize it in the wild, understanding how it grows, exploring its family ties, and uncovering the stories wrapped up in its history. Because Queen Anne’s Lace isn’t just “wild carrot.” It’s part of the Apiaceae family, a group that includes aromatic kitchen staples like fennel and parsley, as well as dangerous look-alikes like poison hemlock and water hemlock.
Earlier this week, I shared a guide comparing Queen Anne’s Lace to some of its toxic cousins, and for good reason. This is one of those plants that deserves our full attention,
So, if you’ve ever wondered about the reddish-purple floret at its center, the lore behind its name, or the root hiding just beneath the soil, this is your invitation to take a closer look.
Queen Anne's Lace
Folklore & Naming
Like many plants with a long relationship to humans, Queen Anne’s Lace comes with stories. Some say it’s named for Queen Anne of Denmark, wife of King James I, who was known for her love of lace. Others believe it refers to Queen Anne II, who ruled a century later and lost 17 of her 18 children.
One legend tells of Queen Anne pricking her finger while tatting lace, a single drop of blood staining the fabric. That drop became the deep red or purple floret often found at the flower’s center. A tiny mark of sorrow in an otherwise bright, lacy bloom.
In 18th-century England, the plant was sometimes called “living lace.” There’s even a tale that Queen Anne challenged her ladies-in-waiting to create lace as delicate as the flower, but none could match it.
Whether or not these stories are historically accurate, they reflect something true about the plant’s presence. Queen Anne’s Lace is elegant, slightly wild, and quietly powerful. There’s a softness to it—but also a story of resilience stitched into its form.
Botanical Description
Queen Anne’s Lace (Daucus carota) is a biennial, meaning it has a two-year life cycle. During its first year, it stays low to the ground as a rosette of feathery, fern-like leaves. You might walk right past it without even noticing, especially if you don’t know what to look for. These leaves are soft, lacy, and divided into delicate little leaflets. They grow in an alternating pattern up the stem, and the edges can be lobed, toothed, or sometimes even smooth.
In its second year, the plant sends up a tall, slender stem that can reach a few feet high. At the top, you’ll find what looks like a floating doily: a wide, flat-topped cluster of tiny white flowers called an umbel. If you look closely, each little bloom has five small petals, and together they form that signature lace-like shape. The flowers are radially symmetrical, which means you can divide them evenly in multiple directions, like slicing a pie.
One of Queen Anne’s Lace’s most recognizable features is the deep red or purple floret that sometimes appears right in the center of the umbel. It’s not always there, but when it is, it adds a striking contrast to the otherwise all-white bloom and gives rise to some of the plant’s most well-known folklore.
As the flowers begin to fade, the umbel curls inward, forming a cupped shape that looks like a little bird’s nest. This is where the seeds develop. They are tiny, bristled, and very good at hitching a ride. They don’t burst open to scatter. Instead, they cling to socks, animals, garden gloves, and anything else passing by. Queen Anne’s Lace spreads easily because of this.
It tends to grow wherever the soil has been disturbed. You’ll often see it on roadsides, in abandoned lots, meadows, or fields. In New England, it’s especially common in Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. Depending on where you live, it typically blooms from July through early fall.
The root smells faintly of carrot, but it’s more fibrous and bitter than the familiar orange variety. While it’s technically edible in its first year, this is not a plant to casually harvest. Queen Anne’s Lace looks strikingly similar to poisonous plants like hemlock, which can be deadly.
This is a plant that invites curiosity, but it’s also one that asks to be approached with care.
History & Traditional Use
Like many plants with a long relationship to people, Queen Anne’s Lace has been used both as food and medicine—often for reproductive health. But when you trace it through history, you quickly realize the story isn’t so straightforward. The carrot family (Daucus), along with related plants like parsnip (Pastinaca), shows up again and again in old herbal texts, but the lines between them can be blurry.
Even the ancient writers weren’t always sure which was which. Galen and Dioscorides both describe herbs under names like Staphilinos, Daucos, and Pastinaca, and many of these were used in similar ways.
Some were said to promote fertility, while others were believed to prevent it. The confusion makes it difficult to pin down exactly which plant they were talking about at any given time. Still, Queen Anne’s Lace, or Wild Carrot, has a long thread of association with female health.
The oldest known reference to the anti-fertility use of wild carrot seeds comes from a text attributed to Hippocrates, around 400 BCE. Later writers like Pliny the Elder, Dioscorides, and Scribonius Largus also mentioned it. Interestingly, Pliny was personally against contraception and abortion, so instead of saying it could prevent pregnancy, he described it as an emmenagogue—something that stimulates menstruation. That language may have been used to conceal its use as a contraceptive while still passing along the knowledge.
By the 13th century, Queen Anne’s Lace was mentioned in several texts for its ability to promote menstrual flow, though some authors hesitated to call it an abortifacient outright. Much of this knowledge may have been lost or driven underground during the Middle Ages, when oral traditions around midwifery and fertility were suppressed during the persecution of so-called "witches." Many of those targeted were women—midwives, herbalists, and healers—who likely carried this knowledge in their communities.
In the 1600s, Nicholas Culpeper’s Complete Herbal helped preserve some of that wisdom. He noted that wild carrot seed could both promote menstruation and potentially support conception, depending on how it was used. He also mentioned its use for conditions like “the rising of the mother,” a phrase likely referring to menstrual blockages or womb-related imbalances. Culpeper, like many herbalists of the time, assigned planetary rulership to herbs. He said Queen Anne’s Lace was governed by Mercury, which was believed to influence digestion, nerves, and spasmodic conditions like colic.
By the 1800s and early 1900s, Queen Anne’s Lace was still appearing in American herbal texts. Some Eclectic and Physiomedicalist writings referred to it as an emmenagogue or a "deobstruent"—a word used to describe herbs that clear stagnation or blockages in the body. One common recommendation for missed periods was a teaspoon of bruised seeds, taken once or twice daily. In India around this time, the seeds were well-known for their abortifacient effects and widely sold by herbal druggists.
Ethnobotanical Use
Across India, Queen Anne’s Lace (known locally as Gajar) has been used in many traditional systems of medicine. The taproot was sometimes considered an aphrodisiac, while the leaves and seeds were brewed into decoctions to help stimulate the uterus during labor. In states like Punjab and Konkan, seeds were used to address uterine pain and fertility, including to bring on menstruation or interrupt pregnancy. In southern Rajasthan and parts of the Himalayas, seeds were often chewed to regulate the menstrual cycle or used in combination with sweeteners like jaggery to prepare a traditional abortifacient.
In North America, particularly in the Appalachian mountains and regions like Watauga County, North Carolina, wild carrot seeds were also used by women seeking a natural method of birth control. Some herbalists have described Queen Anne’s Lace as a kind of implantation inhibitor. The idea is that if taken at or after ovulation, the seeds might prevent a fertilized egg from settling into the uterine lining. A common folk method involves chewing a teaspoon of seeds once a day for several days around ovulation or after unprotected intercourse.
Some modern herbal texts repeat this dosage, one teaspoon of seeds, chewed daily, but it’s important to understand that most of this information comes from tradition and anecdote, not clinical trials. There are reports of women using the seeds consistently for years, with only rare cases of pregnancy when the seeds were missed.
Researchers have speculated that the activity might be related to hormone modulation, possibly through estrogenic effects or interference with progesterone. But again, there’s still a lot we don’t fully understand.
Daucus carota seeds
Medicinal Uses & Energetics
Queen Anne’s Lace is considered a moderately strong plant with warming, stimulating qualities. Its taste is pungent, slightly oily, and aromatic. It tends to move things—whether that’s gas, fluid, or stagnant emotional energy—and for that reason, it’s best approached with care. This isn’t a gentle kitchen herb. It’s a plant with presence and a long history of use that deserves respect.
Energetically, this plant speaks to states of cold and damp. Think sluggish digestion, water retention, and tissues that feel swollen, heavy, or stuck. Herbalists often describe this pattern as “tissue depression,” where the system isn’t necessarily inflamed but feels dull, torpid, or fatigued.
Traditionally, Queen Anne’s Lace has been used to support digestion, the urinary system, reproductive health, and the skin. In older texts, both the seeds and aerial parts are described as diuretic, antispasmodic, carminative, and sometimes mildly antiseptic.
Digestive and Gut Support
This plant has long been used to help with slow or heavy digestion. It’s often indicated for people who feel bloated or gassy after eating, or for those who tend to burp or experience a sense of fullness that lingers. Queen Anne’s Lace may be especially useful when the digestive fire feels low and food isn’t breaking down properly. It has also been used in cases of constipation where stools are dry and difficult to pass, sometimes alternating with loose bowel movements. Some traditions include it in teas for threadworms.
Urinary and Hormonal Support
The seeds and dried tops have been used to support the urinary tract, particularly when there’s mild infection, cystitis, or frequent urination. Queen Anne’s Lace acts as a urinary antiseptic and a gentle diuretic. It may help relieve puffiness or fluid retention, especially around menstruation or in middle-aged bodies holding extra water weight. Some older texts refer to it easing symptoms associated with gout, gravel, and water retention with swollen feet or backache.
Reproductively, Queen Anne’s Lace has been used both to encourage menstruation and, in other contexts, to prevent pregnancy. This duality shows up often in herbal texts. Its seeds were once widely used as an herbal contraceptive, but were also considered helpful for addressing delayed or obstructed menses. It was a plant of both beginnings and boundaries.
Emotionally, the flower essence has been used to help people who feel unclear about the boundaries between spiritual and sexual energy. It has been said to support clarity and grounding. One practitioner even noted a behavioral shift in animals exposed to the plant, from playful to intense, which may speak to its deep energetic resonance.
Skin and Topical Use
Carrot roots—especially those of the domesticated variety—were historically used externally for healing wounds and skin infections. Herbalist William Cook described their use for “irritable ulcers and septic sores” where the tissue was not responding to standard treatment. A raw or boiled poultice was believed to stimulate healing when nothing else worked.
Other Noted Uses
Head: Associated with night blindness, likely due to its vitamin A content.
Respiration: Used for chronic cough or shallow breathing patterns.
Muscles and Joints: Referenced in patterns of muscular fatigue, thin or tight musculature, and arthritic discomfort.
Reproductive: Indicated in cases of infertility or low libido, especially when linked to stagnation or tension.
Daucus carota
Research Summary: What We Know (and Don’t Know) About Queen Anne’s Lace and Contraception
There’s been a steady buzz around Queen Anne’s Lace lately, especially online, with people curious about its long-standing use as a natural contraceptive. And while tradition holds a powerful thread, it’s just as important to look at what current research has explored—and what it hasn’t.
To date, we don’t have any formal clinical trials confirming that Queen Anne’s Lace seeds reliably prevent pregnancy in humans. What we do have are some small-scale, observational studies, a handful of animal experiments, and a long lineage of traditional use. Together, these threads tell a story of possibility, but also uncertainty.
Human Use: Observational Studies
Two informal studies were conducted by herbalists in North America, often called “grassroots trials.” They weren’t controlled or standardized enough to be considered scientific by research standards, but they’re worth mentioning because they reflect real people using this plant in real time.
In the first study, thirteen women tracked their cycles and ovulation, noting when they took the seeds and in what amount. Some chewed a teaspoon daily, some only during ovulation, and others took it for several days after sex. Over the course of eleven months, three pregnancies were reported—though not all participants relied on Queen Anne’s Lace as their only form of contraception.
The second study involved thirty women who used tinctures made from the seeds and flowers after intercourse. Of the five women who followed the method exactly for a full year, none became pregnant. Among the rest, nine pregnancies were reported, mostly when the tincture wasn’t used consistently or as directed.
These aren’t rigorous studies, but they show that the use of Queen Anne’s Lace as an herbal contraceptive hasn’t disappeared. It’s still part of living herbal tradition, passed down through communities and experience.
Animal Studies: What the Science Shows
Much of what we know from a research perspective comes from animal studies, mostly involving rats and mice. Scientists have tested various extracts of Queen Anne’s Lace seeds—alcoholic, aqueous, petroleum-based—to see how they affect fertility, hormone levels, and implantation.
Some extracts prevented pregnancy when given shortly after mating. Others disrupted the normal hormone cycle, reduced progesterone levels, or altered the uterine environment in ways that could prevent an embryo from implanting. In some cases, certain parts of the seed extract seemed to stop ovulation altogether. A few studies also pointed to possible anti-estrogenic effects, where the plant interferes with the body’s normal hormonal messaging.
Interestingly, when scientists combined Queen Anne’s Lace with progesterone, the pregnancies in rats were maintained—suggesting that part of the plant’s activity may lie in shifting the body’s hormonal balance. Still, many of these studies used high doses, often injected or extracted in ways that don’t reflect how most people would traditionally use the plant.
One encouraging note: in all these studies, no long-term harm or birth defects were found in animals who became pregnant after treatment, though sample sizes were small.
Final Thoughts
Queen Anne’s Lace walks a fine line between the wild and the cultivated, the revered and the forgotten. It’s a plant that holds beauty and power, folklore and pharmacology, mystery and medicine—woven together in a single lace-like bloom.
Its legacy in reproductive health is layered and complex, stretching across continents and centuries. Much of it has been passed down through oral traditions, rooted in personal and cultural experience.
And yet, for all that we know, there is still so much we don’t. That’s part of what makes this plant so compelling. It refuses to be reduced to a single action or label.
As herbalists, plant lovers, or simply the curious, we are called to meet plants as whole beings. Not just for what they can offer, but for who they are. Queen Anne’s Lace is a perfect example of that. It asks us to look more closely, to pause, and to learn with intention.
If you’ve made it this far, I hope this piece helped you see Queen Anne’s Lace not just as a trending herb, but as a complex, storied being worth knowing.
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-Agy | The Buffalo Herbalist
Bibliography:
Hoffmann, D. (2003). Medical Herbalism: The Science and Practice of Herbal Medicine. Healing Arts Press.
Wood, M. (2008). The Earthwise Herbal, Volume I: A Complete Guide to Old World Medicinal Plants. North Atlantic Books.
Ismail, J., Shebaby, W. N., Daher, J., Boulos, J. C., Taleb, R., Daher, C. F., & Mroueh, M. (2023). The Wild Carrot (Daucus carota): A Phytochemical and Pharmacological Review. Plants, 13(1), 93. https://doi.org/10.3390/plants13010093
Jansen, G. C., & Wohlmuth, H. (2014). Carrot seed for contraception: A review. In National Herbalists Association of Australia, Australian Journal of Herbal Medicine (Vol. 1).
Kanuckel, A. (2025, May 12). Queen Anne’s Lace: Facts & Folklore. Farmers’ Almanac - Plan Your Day. Grow Your Life. https://www.farmersalmanac.com/what-queen-annes-lace
davesgarden.com/guides/articles/view/1459/
Daucus carota (wild carrot): Go Botany. (n.d.). https://gobotany.nativeplanttrust.org/species/daucus/carota/
We may NEVER have clinical trials, unless allopathic medicine can create a synthetic form...
Otherwise the eons of use, proven effectiveness will remain ' unproven' and unacceptable...
-Save for researchers like yourselves.
If something has been proven effective since the times of the Grecian Empire... one could reasonably deduce in this century,
the info. is more accurate than 'wives tales' or a guess from a list of meds provided from a conglomerate to a Dr. !