23 July 2022
The flowers on Queen Anne’s lace (Daucus carota), or wild carrot, are so lacy and regular that they resemble snowflakes when viewed from above, especially in black-and-white.
Look closely and you’ll see that the tiny flowers inside the umbel have 5 regular parts. Step back to see the pattern of 5’s replicating to the edge.
Unlike winter’s 6-sided snowflakes (below) these summer “snowflakes” have only five.
p.s. See Vicki Dinsmore’s comment below about wild parsnip which is not the same thing!
(photos by Kate St. John and from Alexey Kljatov via Wikimedia Commons)
Caution must be exercised though, as there is a “wild parsnip” that is similar. It is not as snowflake like as Queen Anne’s lace, and causes Poison Ivy type reactions.