Transcript Vegetables Carrots

Module 5. More vegetable
life cycles
The Carrot Top Mystery
A biennial life
cycle
©Gwyneth Marsh 2007
Carrots
Carrot Life Cycle
Carrots are biennial plants. They grow from seed to
seed in two years.
©Gwyneth Marsh 2007
©Gwyneth Marsh 2007
©Gwyneth Marsh 2007
Carrots we eat
The carrots we eat are the food stores that allow the
plant to survive the winter.
©Gwyneth Marsh 2007
©Gwyneth Marsh 2007
The roots are
usually orange,
long and taper
ed, but they
also grow
in a range
of colo
urs
and
shap
es
Growing Carrots
Carrot fruits are small and spiky. We plant them in the
spring. They grow a root and small seed leaves.
©Gwyneth Marsh 2007
Little
spikes
on fruit
©Gwyneth Marsh 2007
©Gwyneth Marsh 2007
Harvesting Carrots
The leaves grow all summer until they are tall and
bushy. The root stores food made by the leaves. We
harvest the root in the autumn.
©Gwyneth Marsh 2007
©Gwyneth Marsh 2007
©Gwyneth Marsh 2007
©Gwyneth Marsh 2007
If we leave the roots in the ground the plant will grow
again next spring. The leaves are not as bushy this
time, but a flower stalk grows.
A key feature of the wild carrot
is a small dark flower in the
middle of the umbrella shaped
head (umbel), which looks like a
fly.
This almost black flower attracts
flies for pollination.
In cultivatated carrots this key
feature is often missing.
single flower umbel
Pollination
Flies and bees pollinate the flowers and
the seed head forms.
©Gwyneth Marsh 2007
Dispersal
The fruits are dispersed
by animals, the spiky
fruit heads stick to their
fur and are carried away
from the plant. When
they fall and lie in
suitable ground, the
seed inside the fruit will
be ready to germinate
the next spring.
©Gwyneth Marsh 2007
©Gwyneth Marsh 2007
The Carrot Family
The carrot belongs to a large
family Apiaceae (Umbelliferae).
We eat many plants in this
family e.g. fennel, coriander, dill,
cumin and the leaves of parsley.
©Gwyneth Marsh 2007
©Gwyneth Marsh 2007
A
A Parsley
B Fennel
C Coriander
©Gwyneth Marsh 2007
B
C