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Daucus carota, called Queen Anne's lace in North America, is a flowering plant in the family Apiaceae. Carrots cultivated as a food crop are cultivars of the domesticated subspecies Daucus carota subsp. sativus. The cultivated carrot derives from the wild carrot; both are the same species Daucus carota L. Daucus carota is native to temperate regions of Europe, northern Africa (south to Ethiopia), southwestern and eastern Asia.

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Chemistry

Carotol is a sesquiterpene alcohol. Carotol is one of the primary components of carrot seed oil, comprising approximately 40% of it. A data sheet for an Indian carrot seed oil gives a carotol content of 60-80% by GC area. Carotol has the formula C₁₅H₂₆O and a molar mass of 222.37 g/mol; its CAS number is 465-28-1. Carotol was first isolated by Asahina and Tsukamoto in 1925. The most probable biosynthesis route to carotol is the cyclization of farnesyl pyrophosphate. Farnesyl pyrophosphate itself is formed through the mevalonate pathway. The cyclization is proposed to give a carbocation with a five-membered and a seven-membered ring, and a stereospecific hydration is then thought to introduce the hydroxyl group. Carotol is thought to form in carrot seeds during the vegetation period, and studies suggest it may take part in allelopathic interactions as an antifungal, herbicidal and insecticidal agent. Carotol's IUPAC name is (3R,3aS,8aR)-6,8a-dimethyl-3-propan-2-yl-1,2,3,4,5,8-hexahydroazulen-3a-ol.

Carotol across the wild carrot

The sesquiterpene carotol, together with the monoterpenes α-pinene, geranyl acetate and sabinene, stands out as one of the most prominent constituents of the different Daucus carota subspecies, in variable percentages. Seeds from Lithuania are dominated instead by sabinene (28.2-37.5%) and α-pinene (16-24.5%). The seed extract, as distinct from the distilled oil, owes its pharmacological activity to three flavones: luteolin and its 3'-O- and 4'-O-beta-D-glucopyranosides.

Terroir and Production

Seed oil of Daucus carota L. is produced in France and in India. Producers describe the Indian oil as a natural essential oil obtained exclusively from seeds of Daucus carota L.

The plant

Wild carrot is a herbaceous, somewhat variable biennial plant that grows to 30-100 cm, rarely 120 cm, tall. Its flowers are small and dull white, clustered in flat, dense umbels, and one pink, reddish or purple flower may sit at the centre of the umbel. Carl Linnaeus described the carrot officially in 1753, and an international team sequenced the full genome of Daucus carota in 2016. The wild subspecies have consistently white roots with a thin, bitter taproot and a woody centre, whereas the cultivated subspecies has roots in a wide range of colours that are thicker and sweeter.