LeavesEach leaf is cut again and again into narrow segments. The leaves grow in a rosette from the top of the root.
StemIn the first year it stays short and flat. In the second year it stretches up to become the tall flower stalk.
TaprootThe plant stores food here in its first year. It uses it for flowering in its second year.
Lateral rootsThey grow in four rows down the length of the taproot.
Root tipThe root grows longer here. A root cap covers the very end and is worn away and replaced as the root pushes through the soil.
Flower stalkIt branches, and each branch ends in an umbel.
UmbelEach umbel is made of many smaller umbels. The flowers are small and white. As the seeds ripen, the cluster curls inward like a bird's nest.
The root cut across 3
SkinBotanists call it the periderm. It has a small groove where each lateral root grows out.
PhloemGardeners often call it the cortex. A good carrot has a lot of it compared with the core.
Core (xylem)The core is xylem. In some varieties it is small and deeply colored, so the root can seem to have no core at all.
How this list was compiled: Every name and detail checked on 2026-09-30, a name kept only where two of these use it: (1) Wikipedia, Carrot, text only, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carrot (a biennial that stores food in the taproot to flower in its second year; the stem just above the ground, compressed, later stretching into the flower stalk; the taproot's pulpy outer cortex (phloem) and inner core (xylem); compound umbels of small white flowers that cup like a bird's nest as the seeds develop); (2) Katherine Esau, Developmental anatomy of the fleshy storage organ of Daucus carota, Hilgardia 13(5), California Agricultural Experiment Station, 1940, https://archive.org/details/hilgardia_1940-08_13_5 (the storage organ formed by secondary growth in the taproot and the hypocotyl; secondary phloem and xylem; the true cortex shed early and the surface covered by a periderm with a groove at each lateral root; lateral roots in four rows; the rosette of leaves); (3) OpenStax, Biology 2e, section 30.3 Roots, https://openstax.org/books/biology-2e/pages/30-3-roots (tap root and lateral roots; the root tip and root cap; carrots as tap roots modified for food storage); (4) NC State Extension Gardener Plant Toolbox, Daucus carota subsp. sativus, https://plants.ces.ncsu.edu/plants/daucus-carota-subsp-sativus/ (feathery leaves twice divided into narrow segments; taproot; core; flowers in umbels; a biennial grown as an annual). Licence: own work
The drawing: Drawn for this site on 2026-09-30 from plain geometry; nothing traced. Not to scale. Licence: own work
How it works
The parts of a carrot are a thick taproot, thin lateral roots and a tuft of feathery leaves on a very short stem. Left to grow, the plant flowers in its second year.
Read the full guide
The plant
On the left is a carrot pulled in its first year: the leaves, the short stem they grow from, the taproot with its lateral roots, and the root tip. On the right is the same plant a year later, with a tall flower stalk and its umbels.
The root cut across
A slice shows three rings. The skin is on the outside. Inside it is the broad ring of phloem, and in the middle is the core, which is xylem.
The carrot you eat is mostly taproot. Its top end grew from the seedling's stem, just below the seed leaves.
Carrots are pulled in their first year, so most people never see the flowers.
Questions and answers
What are the parts of a carrot plant?
Feathery leaves grow in a rosette from a very short stem. Below them is the thick taproot with its thin lateral roots. In its second year the plant sends up a tall flower stalk topped with umbels of tiny white flowers.
What part of the carrot plant do we eat?
The taproot. It is a root that has swollen with the food the plant stores in its first year and would use to flower in its second.
What is inside a carrot?
Under the skin is a broad, pulpy ring of phloem, often called the cortex. In the middle is the core, which is xylem. A good carrot has a wide outer ring and a small core.
Is a carrot a root or a stem?
A root. Biology textbooks list carrots with turnips and beets as tap roots modified to store food. The plant's true stem is the very short piece at the top that the leaves grow from.