Family Name: Umbelliferae
Botanical Name(s): Daucus Carrota
Popular Name(s): Wild Carrot, Birds Nest Weed, Devils Plague,
Garden Carrot, Bee's Nest Plant and Bird's Nest Root.
Parts Used: Dried aerial parts and seeds
Habitat: It is a native of Europe, Asia, North America and N.
Africa
Description: Its root is small and spindle shaped, whitish,
slender and hard, with a strong aromatic smell and an acrid,
disagreeable taste, very different to the reddish, thick, fleshy,
cultivated form, with its pleasant odor and peculiar, sweet,
mucilaginous flavor. It penetrates some distance into the ground, having
only a few lateral rootlets.
Uses: It is useful in the treatment of cystitis and prostatitis.
It has been considered a specific in the treatment of kidney stones for
a long time. In the treatment of gout and rheumatism it is used in
combination with other remedies to provide its cleansing diuretic
action. The seeds can be used as a settling carminative agent for the
relief of flatulence and colic.
