Queen Annes Lace

Locations
Easily found in disturbed roadsides or next to fields. 

How to Identify
It is very important that you properly identify Queen Anne's Lace. Poison Hemlock looks very similar but it can kill you after eating only a few leaves. The stem and the flowers are good indicators of which plant you're dealing with. Queen Anne's Lace has little green hairs on the stem, while Poison Hemlock is hairless and can have purple spots on the stem. It grows up to four feet tall with fern like leaves that are two to eight inches long. The flowers are tiny and white blooming in flat topped clusters. Each flower has a dark purplish flower center. This is another characterizing feature of Queen Anne's Lace vs Hemlock. The Hemlock will not have the purple center. Blooms from May to October and it is a biennial plant (lives for two years, grows big the first year and then flowers the second year). 

Uses
Edible. Queen Anne's Lace is a wild carrot. The root of a young plant can be dug up and eaten like a carrot. As the plant matures the root hardens and is no longer palatable.  Be careful the leaves are toxic.