Summer is the perfect season to celebrate West Virginia wildflowers, be they native or introduced. As you drive along to your next vacation spot, slow down to notice the colorful naturalized areas along state-maintained roadways.

Roadside gardens are created to provide enticing habitats for threatened and dwindling pollinator species, such as bees and butterflies. These areas provide more added value than just a pretty face. They also are intended to reduce mowing, stabilize slopes, reduce erosion and decrease storm water runoff. And let’s not forget that wildflowers defend against invasive weed species, reducing the effort of removing problem vegetation and the use of costly chemical herbicides.

Queen Anne’s lace is the subject of this wildflower profile article. Though named for a British queen’s frilly tatting (Queen Anne was an expert lace maker), Daucus carota thrives in rugged roadside terrain. This plant gladly dresses up the view, through August, with dainty white flowers that are densely clustered in umbrels, appearing like rice paper parasols.

When this naturalized country backroads wildflower is included in the flower mix, the road banks appear to be graced with eyelet doilies, just for our enjoyment. The shapely blossoms are easy to spot, amid the chaos of bolder colors.

Note how this plant changes over time. As the flowers fade, the head begins to dry. The umbel of flowers curls up into a concave shape, hence the common nickname, bird’s nest flower. This cupped structure breaks free and blows with the summer breeze, just like a tumbleweed performs in the desert.

Pull up this wildflower by its long taproot after a cloudburst, to see why it’s also called the wild carrot for its fresh, carroty scent. The fern-like foliage of this plant is as delicate as the bloom and can be easily mistaken for the herb dill.

The dark purple floret in the center of each flower seems to give the blossom more character. This special flower gives way to storytelling of a droplet of blood shed by Queen Anne when she pricked her finger while lace making.

Being biennial, this wildflower grows in a low cluster of leaves the first year. But the second year sees a hairy flower stalk shoot up, to support the lovely flower heads, until dying in late summer.

Although you don’t want this plant going to seed in your veggie garden, Queen Anne’s lace does serve as a host plant for the black swallowtail butterfly. You may want to grow this plant somewhere else in your yard, if you prefer swallowtail larvae dining on wild carrot rather than your precious garden dill and parsley.

To determine if a wildflower is native to this area, visit online plant resources. Searchable sites, such as the West Virginia Wildflowers app, often recognize both common and botanical plant names.

Kristi Hendricks is a graduate of Shepherd College and West Virginia University and a Master Gardener with the Virginia Cooperative Extension. She can be reached at belowthejames@yahoo.com.