Daucus is a worldwide genus of herbaceous plants of the celery family Apiaceae of which the best-known species is the cultivated carrot. Daucus has about 45 species. The oldest carrot fossil is 1.3 Ma, and was found on the island of Madeira in the Atlantic Ocean.
Description
Members of Daucus are distinguished within the family Apiaceae by their leaves which are 2–3 pinnatisect with narrow end sections. The genus primarily consists of biennial plants but also includes some annual plants and some perennial herbs. All Daucus have bristly stems. The inflorescences are umbels. The flowers are mostly white, with bracts and bracteoles. The petals may be pure white, reddish, pinkish or yellowish. They are emarginate above and have pointed, wrapped lobules. The petals are often unequal in size, with petals at the outermost edge of the inflorescence often being larger. The fruit is an ovoid to ellipsoidal schizocarp, cylindrical or compressed, with ciliate primary ribs and secondary ribs with a row of hooked spines. Some species have a small pale or white edible taproot, similar to a radish, which may or may not be bitter in taste.
Ecology
Daucus pollination is carried out by insects, primarily: Lepidoptera, Coleoptera, Diptera, and Hymenoptera.
It is a cosmopolitan genus with endemic species on most continents as well as on many islands and in isolated areas. The genus centre is in North Africa and Southwest Asia in the Temperate Zone. Prolonged dry or cold weather tends to retard growth in Daucus species, but the genus as a whole is evolutionarily adaptive to these conditions. Some Daucus species accumulate substantial resources in large underground taproots without impeding plant development. Native to Europe is the carrot, with several subspecies, including subsp. carota (wild carrot), subsp. gummifer (sea carrot) and subsp. sativus, a cultivated form of carrot, also called garden carrot).
Four members of the Daucus genus were examined to determine differences in...
