Daucus carota (common names include wild carrot, bird's nest, bishop's lace, and Queen Anne's lace) is a flowering plant in the family Apiaceae, native to temperate regions of Europe, southwest Asia and naturalised to North America and Australia. Domesticated carrots are cultivars of a subspecies, Daucus carota subsp. sativus. Daucus carota is a biennial plant that grows a rosette of leaves in the spring and summer, while building up the stout taproot that stores large amounts of sugars for the plant to flower in the second year. Like the cultivated carrot, the D. carota root is edible while young, but quickly becomes too woody to consume.