Botanical Name : Daucus carota
Sanskrit name : Shikha-mula, Garijara
English Name :  Cultivated Carrot      
Family:  Apiaceae

Description of Daucus carota:

Daucus carota is a flowering plant in the family Apiaceae, native to temperate regions of Europe and southwest Asia; domesticated carrots are cultivars of a subspecies, Daucus carota subsp. sativus.

Daucus carota is a variable biennial plant, usually growing up to 1 m tall and flowering from June to August. The umbels are claret-coloured or pale pink before they open, then bright white and rounded when in full flower, measuring 3–7 cm wide with a festoon of bracts beneath; finally, as they turn to seed, they contract and become concave like a bird's nest. This has given the plant its British common or vernacular name, Bird's Nest. Very similar in appearance to the deadly Water Hemlock, it is distinguished by a mix of bi-pinnate and tri-pinnate leaves, fine hairs on its stems and leaves, a root that smells like carrots, and occasionally a single dark red flower in its center.

Principal Constituents:

Carrot is valued as food mainly because it is a rich source of the fat-soluble hydrocarbon, C40H56, the ß form of which is the precursor of vitamin A. Carrots contain a variety of carotenoids that are responsible for the typical colors of the root. The main pigments of orange carrot are a- and ß-carotene. The seed oil has a sweet anise like odor and the main components identified were ß-bisabolene, Cis and trans -asarene, asarone aldehyde and phenolic compounds such as eugenol 2-hydroxy-4-methoxyacetophenone and vanillin.

Medicinal Value:

Carrot seeds are aromatic, stimulant and carminative. They are reported to be useful in diseases of the kidney and in dropsy. The seeds are reported to exhibit anti-fertility activity. The ethanolic extracts of seeds showed diuretic activity. The essential oil from leaves and seeds showed antifungal activity, used as a sunscreen and fragrance component in soaps, creams and lotions. The aqueous extract of carrot showed hepatoprotective activity.

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