Queen Anne's Lace

Though, I'm pretty sure.. it's not yarrow. :)

I think you'd have to have the leaves/stem (root if you're really lucky!) to be able to properly ID it. Sorry, Rosendo!

For an accurate ID for most plants, you need a little more information about the specimen, like leaves, etc. Do you have other shots of this plant?. A year ago, we had the same discussion with another spotter. Yarrow Vs Queen Anne's lace. It was the leaf structure that helped us ID the plant.

See, I don't think it is A. Sylvestris... It looks similar but they definitely do not look the same. The sylvestris seems to have more distinctive floret groupings from what I can tell? I did a quick image search and the images for the cow parsley look pretty different than the QAL that I recognize from the fields here! Thoughts? (And what an interesting convo!)

Thanks for your comment, Ben. I'm kind of interested because I have an either-or spotting in my collection, too. It's all good ...

I think I'd have to go with A. sylvestris, myself.

Unfortunately Suzanne, those admittedly anecdotal sightings came before I had any interest in the taxonomy of QA lace, and thus couldn't really say.

Ben ... which makes them Anthriscus sylvestris maybe? I dunno ... the other complication is both Daucus carota and Anthriscus sylvestris are commonly called Queen Anne's Lace. In any event, I agree with you and Emily, whichever one it is, it's commonly called Queen Anne's Lace.

I've seen plenty of QAL without that little dealt in the center.

Question. How reliable is the small pink-purple "floweret" in the center in distinguishing Daucus carota from Anthriscus sylvestris?

I agree that this is Queen Anne's Lace, not Yarrow.

I think this is actually Queen Anne's Lace, and not Common Yarrow. There are a few differences... the shape of the flowers is one (this one is flat, the yarrows are usually slightly dome-shaped), and the actual flower blooms are slightly different, and the grouping of yarrow blooms is a bit more evenly distributed while the QA has a more condensed grouping in the center, like yours here. QA forms a perfect circle (it's umbral), while yarrow clumps in no particular arrangement (it could be circular, but not necessarily) It's unfortunate you don't have any leaves included here - that's a dead give away to tell the difference! These two are commonly (and easily!) mistaken between the other. What are your thoughts? :)