Herbs in History: Carrot

Carrot Daucus carota L. CONTENTS Deeper History? A Recent Revision A Closer Examination Medicinal Uses Going Deeper in History? References

By Alain Touwaide & Emanuela Appetiti | September 2024

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Deeper History?

Carrot (Daucus carota L.) (Apiaceae [formerly Umbelliferae]) is part of our daily life from childhood (Illustration 1) and is a daily staple (Illustration 2). Until not so long ago, it was believed to have only a relatively recent history (Banga 1957: 59):
 

Contrary to most writers on the same subject, it is concluded that there is no evidence that our type of cultivated carrot (Daucus carota s.sp. sativa) was known to the Romans, or to the Europeans at the time of Charlemagne (± 800 A .D .) or before.
 

Illustration 1: Bugs Bunny and the carrot		Illustration 2: Carrots as a food staple		Illustration 3: Varieties of carrots

 

A Recent Revision

In recent times the deep history of carrot has been explored, particularly its domestication, with different types diverging even by their color (Illustration 3). The history as above was revised and refined, resulting in a much more complex and detailed narrative (Coe et al. 2023).
 
According to new research, investigation of historical records and genetics resulted in a natural history made of two populations, Eastern and Western. Eastern carrot seems to be the progenitor of Western carrot, unless Western carrot originated from a now extinct population.
 
Domestication of each population took place at different moments, with Eastern carrot domesticated before the Western one (Coe et al. 2023: 1651):
 

... recent population expansion in Eastern carrots began ⁓ 1,300 years ago ... Eastern carrots were documented in central Asia between 1,100 and 1,500 years ago ... carrot domestication can be placed between the sixth and tenth centuries, during the Early Middle Ages ...

 
This macro-history is further divided into two phases:
 

... separation between western-southern Asia (Turkey, Iran and India) and central-eastern Asia (Afghanistan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Pakistan, China and Japan), and overlaps with Asia Minor and central Asia,  ... the domestication of central Asia carrots pre-dated the spread of carrot in Asia Minor ...

 
Western carrot had a different, later history that recalls the previous narrative. This new history identifies Early and Improved cultivars (Coe et al. 2023: 1651):
 

The more recent population expansion detected for the Early and Improved cultivar samples began about 800-900 years ago ... spread of Western orange carrot between the sixteenth and eighteenth centuries. Historical records also indicate that between the twelfth and fifteenth centuries, yellow and purple carrot were used in Spain, Italy, France, Germany, England and the Netherlands. However, yellow carrots became more popular in Europe and probably established the basis of Western carrot ... Western yellow carrots as the founders of the Early cultivars ... Early cultivars were the founders of the Improved cultivars ...

Beyond the distinction of these phases, one of the most important results of recent research might be the identification of the rationale underpinning selection processes (Coe et al. 2023: 1652):
 

... traits selected during carrot domestication and improvement ... role of conscious and/or unconscious selection by farmers and breeders on traits of economic value. For instance, delayed flowering in carrot is strictly needed to produce a nutrient-rich edible carrot ...
 

A Closer Examination

However documented it might be, this history might not have taken full advantage of written historical documentation and archaeological evidence. Truth is that already in 2011, a study explored ancient texts and botanical illustrations, including three representations from a manuscript traditionally dated to 512 that seem to be carrots, with three types: cultivated carrot (Illustration 4), a wild species (Illustration 5), and Daucus gingidium L. (syn. of D. carota L.) (Illustration 6) (Stolarczyk and Janick 2011).
 

Illustration 4: Cultivated carrot (stafulinos) in manuscript Vienna, National Library of Austria, medicus graecus 1, f. 312 recto (Constantinople, ca. 512)		Illustration 5: Wild carrot (stafulinos) in manuscript Vienna, National Library of Austria, medicus graecus 1, f. 313 recto (Constantinople, ca. 512)		Illustration 6: Daucus gingidum in manuscript Vienna, National Library of Austria, medicus graecus 1, f. 88 recto (Constantinople, ca. 512)

A closer examination of historical documentation brings more relevant information to light. As a hypothesis to start our investigation, we will take for granted that the ancient Greek phytonyms daukos/daukon, stafulinos and giggidion refer to species of carrots as the subsequent development of analysis will show.
 
Starting with botany and the Greek scientific treatises, Theophrastus (ca. 370-ca. 287 BCE), a disciple of Aristotle (384-322 BCE) and his successor at the helm of the Athenian Lycaeum, provides few information in his Historia Plantarum (Inquiry into Plants):
 

(9.20.2) Daukon of excellent quality grows in the district of Patra in Achaia [possibly current Patras in the Peloponnese] ... it has a dark root.
 
(9.15.8) Daukon again is excellent in the country about Patra ... it has a dark root.

 
In De materia medica, Dioscorides (1^st cent. CE) provides more specific elements of description for the plants designated by the terms stafulinos, daukos and giggidion.
 

Starting with the species that he identifies as wild:
 
(3.52) The wild carrot (stafulinos agrios in Greek). It has leaves similar to those of Daucus gingidium (syn. of D. carota L.), with an umbel similar to that of aneth, on top of which are white flowers ... It has a root one finger thick, one foot long, with a pleasant [aromatic] scent ...

 
The comparison with the leaves of D. gingidium is repeated in the description of giggidion (below).
 
Under the same term stafulinos, Dioscorides refers to a cultivated species, of which, however, he does not provide any description.
 
For daukos he distinguishes three types in a description that is sometimes abrupt by its lack of syntactic connections:
 

(3.72) Carrot (daukos). One species is called Cretan, having leaves like those of fennel but smaller and thinner, a stem two feet tall, an umbel like coriander, white flowers. In those, the seed is white, rough, pungent when chewed, and fragrant. The root one finger thick and one foot long. It grows in rocky and sunny places.
 
Another [species] resembles wild celery, aromatic and fragrant, pungent and hot taste. The Cretan species is better.
 
The third kind resembles coriander for its foliage, and it has white flowers. Its top and fruit are similar to dill, the umbel like carrot (stafulinos), full of long seeds like cumin, pungent.

 
In the chapter on pellitory (3.73), the leaves are compared to those of daukos.
 

For giggidion, Dioscorides gives a short description:
 
(2.137) Daucus gingidium (giggidion). It grows abundantly in Cilicia [South-east Asia Minor, now Turkey] and Syria. It is a small herb similar to wild carrot (stafulinos), slenderer and bitterer, having a whitish and bitter root.

 
When describing cumin, Dioscorides compares its leaves to those of giggidion (3.60).
 
Galen (129-after [?] 216 CE) interestingly considered that “daukos is the plant that some call stafulinos”, thus implicitly considering that daukos and stafulinos are just different names for the same plant (De simplicibus medicamentis-On Simple Medicines 6.4.2). And he recognizes two species of daukos (cultivated and wild), just like Dioscorides.
 

Medicinal Uses

Although all these elements of botanical description point to carrot, they might not seem as conclusive as one would want, even though all authors agree on identifying the plants designated by the terms daukos, stafulinos, and giggidion as carrots. An examination of the medicinal uses of the three species or plants could prove decisive.

Assuming that the Greek terms above do refer to species of carrots, carrot does appear before Dioscorides and Theophrastus’ time. The term daukos can be found in the writings by the physicians practicing medicine in the way of Hippocrates (460-between 375 and 350 BCE).

Among their treatises—none of which is by Hippocrates himself, but reflects his approach to medicine—the oldest one mentioning carrot (daukos) is On Diseases, dating to the years 450 BCE ca. There, carrot is used in a case of an acute bodily spasm (7.142.2), probably as a muscular relaxing agent.

At around the same time, carrot appears in the pathological and gynecological treatises, for conditions of the respiratory tract (infection, Diseases 2 = 7.89.19 and 7.90.10) and of the womb (infection and swelling, Nature of Women = 7.356.20, and Diseases of Women = 8.82.5). In the latter, it is also mentioned as an abortifacient (8.184.16).

Slightly later, around the late 5^th century BCE, the Regimen in acute diseases returns to the acute bodily spasm of On Diseases (2.274.2) and recommends the use of carrot in cases of pain (2.274.4) and fever (2.454.3).

In all cases, carrot is administered in the form of a beverage, except for the treatment of the respiratory tract in Diseases 2, where it is used externally, in the form of a warm cataplasm applied on the chest.

Whereas Theophrastus limits himself to mention that carrot (daukos) is warming (Historia Plantarum 9.15.8 and 9.20.2), Dioscorides lists more therapeutic applications.

For the wild variety of stafulinos, he specifies the parts to be used (seeds, root, and leaves) and the modes of administration.

The seeds and the root in external application are abortifacient.

The seeds in a beverage or in external application are emmenagogue. In a beverage, they treat dysuria, dropsy, and pleurisy, andincrease fertility and the possibility of conception. In the same way (beverage), they also prevent and treat bites and stings by venomous insects and other animals. This indication is repeated in the chapter about a thistle (3.21) where stafulinos is recommended with this thistle against venoms and poisons.

Daukos root is diuretic and aphrodisiac, and its leaves mixed with honey and applied externally reduce ulcerous wounds.

The cultivated variety of stafulinos is credited with the same properties, but with a lower degree of efficacy.

For daukos, all species share the same major property: they are warming as Theophrastus already mentioned. The part to be used is the seed. Just like for stafulinos, it is emmenagogue, diuretic, and abortifacient taken as a beverage. It relieves colic and calms chronic cough. Applied externally as a cataplasm, it reduces swellings. As it was the case with stafulinos, it is active against spider venom, particularly the Cretan variety.

In the chapter on water-plantain (3.155), stafulinos is recommended with that plant for the treatment of colic and spasms.

Giggidion, as for it, is diuretic and digestive.

According to Dioscorides, all species are edible, particularly the cultivated stafulinos. Giggidion can be consumed raw, boiled and pickled.

Much of Dioscorides’ information is echoed in Galen. According to him, the whole stafulinos, but mostly its seeds and the root, are especially diuretic and emmenagogue. Its raw leaves applied externally with honey are wound cleansing (above all on gangrenous wounds).

For daukos, Galen distinguished the uses of the whole plant (6.4.3) and those of its seeds (6.4.3). The whole plant is pungent and warming, and hence thinning (thanks to its warming property which results in reducing moisture, all the more because of pungency, which dilates the pores of bodily tissues). Its root is aphrodisiac. Globally, daukos is diuretic and emmenagogue.

For the seeds specifically, they are warming and are, by consequence, an extremely efficacious diuretic, in addition to be emmenagogue.
 

Going Deeper in History?

The therapeutic indications and other uses of carrot species and varieties as per the ancient texts form a complex set of actions with one common action for all three plants: diuresis (with its possible implication in the treatment of dropsy), and two major actions for two of them (stafulinos and daukos): emmenagogue and abortifacient.

Furthermore, both stafulinos and daukos act on the respiratory tract (cough and pleurisy) and on venom inoculation, be it by spiders or other venomous animals. Strangely, absorption of seeds of wild stafulinos is believed to prevent from venomous bites and stings. The two plants are also said to be effective on swellings and wounds in external applications.

The seeds of wild stafulinos are reported to be aphrodisiac and to increase fertility.

Interestingly, a recent review (Shakheel B. et al. 2017) confirms some of these properties: wound healing, anti-inflammatory and analgesic, fertility increase, and “remarkable nutritional and health benefits.”

Exact analysis and possible assessment of the properties attributed to stafulinos, daukos and giggidion against contemporary knowledge is difficult as ancient therapeutic indications are symptomatologic and not etiologic, contrary to modern practice. Nevertheless, the points of contact between ancient and modern literature might be significant.

This possible correspondence, in addition to the botanical vraisemblance, suggests that stafulinos, daukos and giggidion probably are species of carrot, and all would have a more ancient history than currently assumed, with a use in the ancient Greek World attested at least at the time of the Hippocratics, that is, the 5^th century BCE.

Archaeology provides some confirmation. DNA analysis of the tablets recovered from the shipwreck traditionally identified as the Relitto del Pozzino (Pozzino shipwreck) dated to 140-120 BCE identified traces of carrot in the tablets.

Although more archeological material—that is, solid evidence—would be necessary to reach a clear conclusion, textual and iconographic evidence point to a history of carrot in the Eastern Mediterranean that goes far back in time than currently stated,. Further on, this early-domesticated/known carrot was used in medicine until at least the 2^nd/3^rd century CE.

If confirmed, such conclusion does not contradict the results of recent research but complements them. They hint at a non-linear history that was more complex than earlier postulated, with a first knowledge (and domestication) at a time and area that are not identified thus far but reached the Eastern Mediterranean and spread westward to Greece, and a reintroduction (and second domestication) centuries later, possibly in the East sometimes between “the sixth and the ten centuries”, with a subsequent introduction (or reintroduction) of this species to the Greek World in the Eastern Mediterranean. If so, it might be that the representations of carrot species in the early 6^th century Constantinopolitan manuscript (Illustrations 4-6) reflect this second domestication/introduction.

The most important point here—besides this possible anteriority of knowledge and use of carrot when compared to other narratives—probably is that the history as reconstructed here—with its gradually increased knowledge and more refined therapeutic uses—illustrates the selection mechanism identified by Kevin Coe and his several co-authors in their 2023 study, determined by “the role of conscious and/or unconscious selection by farmers and breeders on traits of economic value”. We could have here repeated manifestations of this quality-driven selection process.

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