What is this plant with round spiky seeds that look like insects? (i.imgur.com)

submitted 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) by Sal@mander.xyz to c/plantid@mander.xyz

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Country: The Netherlands

And... can I use them to make a herbal tea? They smell nice.

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[-] Sal@mander.xyz 4 points 1 year ago

From Wikipedia:

The function of the central dark florets of D. carota has been subject to debate since Charles Darwin speculated that they are a vestigial trait.[14] It has been suggested that they have the adaptive function of mimicking insects, thus either discouraging herbivory,[15] or attracting pollinators[16] by indicating the presence of food or opportunities for mating

Alright - so it's not only me who thinks that they look like spiky insects 😄

[-] angrystego@lemmy.world 3 points 1 year ago

Well, the spiky insects in the photo are the seeds. They are spiky so that they could easily hook onto animal fur and be carried to new places. The Wiki article talks about flowers – this is what they mean, it's really cool:

[-] Sal@mander.xyz 1 points 1 year ago

Ah! Yeah, I failed at reading comprehension here.

I don't see the image you posted, but I looked up "D. carota dark central florets" and I found some images. Cool! I will pay attention to this next time I find them.

this post was submitted on 13 Aug 2023

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