Carrot

The carrot (pronounced CARE-ot) is a type of plant. Many different types exist. The Latin name of the plant is usually given as Daucus carota. The plant has an edible, orange root, and usually white flowers. Wild carrots grow naturally in Eurasia. Domesticated carrots are grown for food in many parts of the world.

Carrot
Scientific classification
Unrecognized taxon (fix):	Apiaceae
Genus:	Daucus
Species:	D. carota
Subspecies:	D. c. subsp. sativus
Trinomial name
Daucus carota subsp. sativus (Hoffm.) Schübl. & G. Martens

Carrots are grown in the ground, and carrots roots are a common edible vegetable. After cleaning, the roots may be eaten raw or cooked. They are served as part of many dishes. In Portugal, carrot jam is a speciality.

Images

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  Raw carrots

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  Carrots can come in different colors

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  What they look like before being used for cooking.

Nutrition

Carrots are a moderate source of beta carotene, biotin, vitamin K1, vitamin B6, and potassium. Along with beta-carotene, carrots also have carotenoids another antioxidant helpful to enhance immunity functions and decreased risk of cardiovascular diseases, degenerative diseases and different types of cancers.

Carrot Media

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  β-Carotene structure. Carotene is responsible for the orange colour of carrots.

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  A "garden" carrot from the Juliana Anicia Codex, a 6th-century AD copy of Dioscorides' 1st-century pharmacopoeia. The facing page states that "the root can be cooked and eaten."

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  Workers harvesting carrots by hand, Imperial Valley, California, 1948

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  The carrot fly is a pest of carrot crops.

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  The seeds of a carrot, possibly Daucus carota subsp. sativus. Cropped from the "3D" picture

• Carrotseeds3d.jpg.
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  Kintoki carrots, a Japanese cultivar from Kyoto Prefecture

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  Seedlings shortly after germination

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  The flowers have five petals, five stamens, and an entire calyx.

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  Umbel (inflorescence). Individual flowers are borne on undivided pedicels from a common node.