Author: Linné, Family: apiaceae (umbelliferae)
The roots of the wild carrot are much thinner than those of the cultivated ones, and whitish in color,
not orange. The plant grows abundantly all over Europe, on meadows and other open spaces.
Carrots themselves are perfectly harmless, but in the apiaceae family there are
several poisonous plants - some, like hemlock, even deadly - that look very much the same as wild
carrot. It is distinguishable, though, by the single small, purplish-black flower in the middle of the
white flower umbel.
In Jean Auel's books the carrot is only eaten, but is has been used medicinally as well, mainly for stomach disorders. For medicinal uses garden carrots can be used in the same way as the wild ones.
Photo by Charles Webber, California Academy of Sciences
More about wild carrot and garden carrot in MGMH
Text References: Food
| VH 3, 41 |
She noticed the leaves and the dried umbeled flower stalk that pointed
to wild carrots a few inches below the ground, but passed them by as though
she hadn't seen them . The impression was misleading. She would remember
the place just as precisely as if she had marked it, but vegetation would
stay put. (...)
On her way back, she chopped a branch from a tree, sharpened a point
on one end, and used it to dig up the wild carrots. |
| VH 3, 43 |
She rinsed the wild carrots in the river (...) and wrapped them in
plantain leaves. (...) She put the leaf-wrapped wild carrots next to the
coals. |
| VH 3, 44 |
The wild carrots, small and pale yellow, were tender and had a sweet tangy taste. She missed the salt that had always been available near the inland sea, but hunger provided the right seasoning. |
| VH 11, 194-195 |
Other small edibles were passed: pickled ash keys that had been soaking
in brine, and fresh pignuts. The small tuber resembled wild carrot, a sweet
groundnut Jondalar was familiar with, and the first taste was nutty, but
the hot aftertaste of radish was a surprise. |
| VH 26, 437 |
She also dug up wild carrots, small and pale yellow, and white, starchy
groundnuts that were good raw, though she liked them better cooked.
(...) She (...) washed the roots, then brought them up and added them to a broth she had started using dry meat. She tasted it, sprinkled in some dried herbs, and divided the raspberries into two portions, then poured herself a cup of cool tea. |
| MH 3, 31 |
Many had stopped to pick at cold leftovers from the earlier meal which
had been brought in: small white starchy groundnuts, wild carrots, blueberries,
and slices of mammoth roast. |
| MH 8, 120 |
"Roots and fruit are stored higher up," Talut said to the visitors,
pulling back another drape and showing them baskets heaped with // knobby,
brown-skinned, starchy groundnuts; small, pale, yellow wild carrots; the
succulent lower stems of cattails and bulrushes; and other produces stored
at ground level around the edge of a deeper pit. "They last longer if they
are kept cold, but freezing makes them soft." |
| MH 9, 135 |
Ptarmigan
(...) Ayla looked through the storage rooms to see if there was anything
that appealed to her to stuff the ptarmigan with. (...) She thought about
using wild carrots or the peas from milk vetch pods, but changed her mind.
(...)
Without salt, people preferred distinctive, spicy flavors, and she
had flavored the gruel with sage and mint, and added bitterroots, onions,
and wild carrots to the mixed rye and barley grains. |
| MH 18, 274 |
Adoption gift to Nezzie
The basket, divided into sections by flexible birchbark, was full of
food. There were small hard apples, sweet and spicy wild carrots, peeled,
gnarled roots of starchy groundnuts, pitted dried cherries, dried but still
green day-lily buds, round green milk vetch dried in the pod, dried mushrooms,
dried stalks of green onions, and some unidentifiable dried leaves and
slices. Nezzie smiled warmly at her as she examined the selection. It was
a perfect gift. |
| MH 36, 609-610 |
Breakfast
She sipped her morning tea as the sky grew lighter, staring absently
at a thin stalk with a dried flower umbel growing near the fireplace. (...)
Recognition of the wild carrot plant dawned on her, and noticing a fractured
branch with a pointed end in the woodpile, she used it as a digging stick
to uncover the root a few // inches below the surface. Then she noticed
several more dried flower umbels (...) |
| PP 2, 25 |
Up ahead, that wide white flower, sort of rounded, pink in the middle,
it's wild carrot. |
| PP 2, 26 |
Dominated by grasses more than five feet tall but ranging up to twelve feet in height - big bulbous bluestem, feather grasses, and tufted fescues - the colorful forb meadows added a variety of flowering and broad-leaved herbs: aster and coltsfoot; yellow, many-petaled elecampane and the big white horns of datura; groundnuts and wild carrots, turnips and cabbages; horseradish, mustard, and small onions; irises. |
| PP 4, 51 |
Dinner for Two
Beside it was a small pile of whole wild carrots. (...)
"For tonight, and tomorrow morning, I'm making soup with the tongue
and vegetables, and the little bit we have left from Feather Grass Camp,"
she said. |
| PP 22, 383 |
Ptarmigan
Then she began to think about what she might stuff the cavities with.
(...) The big ground roots might be good, maybe with wild carrots and onions. |
| PP 30, 494 |
Feast for S'Armunai
Later she planned to mix in some dry roots - wild carrots, and starchy
groundnuts - plus other pod and stem vegetables, and dried currants and
blueberries. |
|
Abbreviations |
Editions |
| CB |
The Clan of the Cave Bear |
The page numbers refer to the hardcover editions by Crown Publishers, Inc, New York 1980, 1982, 1985, 1990.
Book 1-3 are the Special Collector's Edition, I don't know if the page numbers differ from those of the 'normal' hardcover editions. |
| VH |
The Valley of Horses |
| MH |
The Mammoth Hunters |
| PP |
The Plains of Passage |
| (...) |
omission |
Copyright |
| ... |
original in text |
All book quotes: © Copyright Jean M. Auel
The format and text contents of this site are the property of the author |
| MGMH |
'A Modern Herbal', by Mrs. M. Grieve |
Comments, suggestions, errors, anything else ... emails are welcome!
|
Author: Linné, Family: apiaceae (umbelliferae)