Carrot seed oil, also known in English as: Carrot oil; Carrot seed oil; Oils, carrot seed; Carrot seed oil (Daucus carota L.); Daucus carota oil; Daucus oil; FEMA No. 2244; Oils, carrot; Queen ann's lace oil; UNII-595AO13F11; Wild carrot oil. Carrot seed oil is referred to as a "carrier oil" in aromatherapy, distilled from wild carrots, though it is also possible to extract essential oil from common edible carrots. These two varieties have similar stems and leaves, but wild carrots have coarser tissues and inedible roots. Its stem bears white flowers with purple centers, and the entire plant can be distilled to produce essential oil. This oil is primarily produced in Europe, with some also sourced from Egypt and India.
Wild carrot (scientific name: Daucus carota L.) belongs to the order Apiales, family Apiaceae, and genus Daucus. It is a biennial herb, 15-120 cm tall. The stem is solitary, and the entire plant is covered with white, coarse hairs. The basal leaves are membranous, oblong, and bipinnate to tripinnate with ultimate segments linear or lanceolate, sharply pointed, with small tips, smooth or rough-hairy; the petiole is 3-12 cm long; the stem leaves are nearly sessile, with leaf sheaths, and the ultimate segments are small or slender. The compound umbel has a peduncle 10-55 cm long, covered with rough hairs; the involucre has numerous bracts, leaf-like, pinnately divided, rarely undivided, with linear segments; there are many rays, and the outer rays bend inward when fruiting; the involucel has 5-7 linear bracts, undivided or 2-3 lobed, with membranous margins and cilia; the flowers are usually white, sometimes tinged with pale red; the pedicels are of unequal lengths. The fruit is round-ovoid, with white bristles on the ribs. The flowering period is from May to July. It is found in China's Sichuan, Guizhou, Hubei, to the northeastern part of East China, as well as in Europe and Southeast Asia. The fruit is used in medicine and can be processed to extract essential oil.