In summer, the wild carrot known as Queen Anne’s lace is topped by a beautiful, flat flowerhead:
As fall approaches, Queen Anne’s lace turns into Queen Anne’s “mace,” as in the medieval combat club weapon. The flat white flower head puckers inward while drying out, as you ee here:
The inward curling continues until a cage-like sphere or “bird’s nest” forms to hold the developing seeds:
QAL seed propagation is next. The little seeds tucked inside the nest have tiny, hooked hairs that catch on the fur of passing mammals to be dispersed as the animals roam. The drying nest also is top-heavy and falls to the ground, where it tumbles in the wind to disperse seeds.
(Images taken in Brooklin, Maine, on August 27 and September 4, 2026.)