The old Latin term for carrot is Daucus Carota. The carrot resides in the scientific classification kingdom Plantae, the division Magnoliophyta, the class Magnoliopsida, the order Apiales, the family Apiaceae, the genus Daucus, and the individual species Carota. Carrots are primarily reddish orange, orange, yellow, or white in color, and have a course woody feel and texture. The portion of the carrot which we eat, is called a taproot. The plant itself is biennial, which produces leaves and white lacy flowers in it's second year of maturity. The carrot or root of the plant is used by the plant to store sugar during it's second year of growth, in which the plant produces seeds, then dies. The flower plant can sometimes grow up to 1.5 meters in height.
Scientists believe carrots originate from around the Afghanistan area, via a wild sub species. This wild carrot sub species also grows in Europe, but isn't believed to have originated from there. Wild carrots, or Queen Anne's lace as they are sometimes referred, is a sub species of which all modern forms of garden carrots are derived from. Garden carrots let loose in your backyard unattended, can transform into this wild Daucus Carota species if they make it into they're second year of growth. During this wild growth period, the carrot root becomes more or less inedible, meaning it's very dry and very bitter in taste. Another close relative of the carrot is called Parsnip plant.
Modern every day garden variety carrots are divided into two cultivars, the eastern carrot cultivar, and the western carrot cultivar. Between those two types of carrot bread, there are obviously lots of other derivatives that originate from these two parent breads. Eastern carrots are cultivated primarily in Central and Eastern Asia, and are thought to have been grow in the area by ancient farmers since the 8th or 9th century. Eastern carrots are purple or yellow in color, and more often then not grow out forked, with the carrot branching into 3 or more sections. The purple color of these carrots originates by way of anthocyanin pigments. The western cultivar of garden carrots was first cultivated in Holland around the 14th century. The orange color of this type of carrot would later go on to symbolize the Dutch struggle for independence, and is used at the emblem on the Dutch House of Orange. The western cultivar contains a rich amount of carotenes, which is why they grow out orange in color.
