Carrots are a member of the parsley family believed to have originated in the Middle East. They were first introduced into England from Holland during the sixteenth century and were domesticated by the Vilmorin Seed Company of Paris and other famed carrot tamers. The species, D.C. Sativa, is now found worldwide in both its domesticated and wild forms. Because of its flavor, nutritive value, accessibility and catchy name, the carrot is a very popular vegetable.

Collier's Encyclopedia, 1958 and Encyclopedia Americana, 1993.

Culpeper said of carrots that (Monty Python Voice) "Wild carrots belong to Mercury, and expel wind and remove stitches in the side, promote the flow of urine and women's courses, and break and expel the stone; the seed has the same effect and is good for dropsy, and those whose bowels are swollen with wind: It cures colic, stone, and rising of the mother; being taken in wine or boiled in wine and taken, it helpeth conception. The leaves being applied with honey to running sores or ulcers cleanse them; I suppose the seeds of them perform this better than the roots: and though Galen recommended garden carrots highly to expel wind, yet they breed it first, and we may thank nature for expelling it, not they; for the seeds of them expel wind and so mend what the root marreth." (/Monthy Python Voice)

Culpeper's Complete Herbal, Nicolas Culpeper, 1653

There is an old Ukrainian saying: (babushka voice) "If your husband is old and weak you must have him to drink the juice from two big carrots and one firm celery". (/babushka voice) Celery is also a very popular folk aphrodisiac in Poland and the Czech Republic, possibly due to the "doctrine of similarities" (also known as the doctrine of "if it ain't round, don't bounce it").

Exhaustive Carrot Links: