Many people say they see angels when walking the mountains. Maybe they’re spirits of the hills or spiritual beings of light bringing messages and warnings of omens both ill and good. Or maybe they saw an overabundance of bees, beetles and butterflies dancing not on the head of a pin, but on the flowerhead of the filmy angelica (Angelica triquinata).
A member of the carrot family of plants (Apiaceae), this large and showy species only grows in the higher elevations of the southern and central Appalachian Mountains and is therefore referred to as an Appalachian endemic plant. The word endemic means “found in a relatively small or limited geographic area.”
The carrot family is among the largest and most studied plant families, with members that are edible and delicious like carrots found in stores (Daucus carota subs. sativa): Queen-Anne’s lace (Daucus carota) which is actually the wild parent of cultivated carrots: and many kitchen herbs like parsley (Petroselinum crispum) and fennel (Foeniculum vulgare).