Australian carrot

Daucus glochidiatus is a slender, erect to ascending annual herb of the carrot family growing 10-50 cm tall from a thin, woody taproot. Stems are wiry, much branched, often reddish-tinged, and bear sparse stiff bristly hairs. Leaves are mostly basal and lower-cauline, two- or three-pinnately divided into small narrow lobes 1-3 mm wide, giving a lacy carrot-like appearance; upper stem leaves are reduced. Compound umbels are small and few-rayed, 1-3 cm across, with 2-6 unequal rays each bearing a small umbellule of tiny white to pinkish five-petalled flowers; involucral bracts are conspicuous, pinnately divided. The fruits are small ovoid schizocarps 3-5 mm long covered with hooked bristles ('glochid'-tipped, hence the specific epithet) that readily adhere to clothing and animal fur for dispersal. Native to a wide range of grasslands and open habitats throughout Australia, New Zealand, and parts of South-east Asia, it flowers in spring and early summer.