Apiaceae

Apiaceae {{{latin_name}}}	Celery, parsley or carrot family
	Habit: {{{growth_habit}}} Height: ⇕ {{{high}}} Width: ⇔ {{{wide}}} Lifespan: ⌛ {{{lifespan}}} Origin: ✈ {{{origin}}} Poisonous: ☠ {{{poisonous}}}	Exposure: ☼ {{{exposure}}} Water: ◍ {{{water}}} Features: ✓ {{{features}}} Hardiness: ☃ {{{hardiness}}} Bloom: ❀ {{{bloom}}} USDA Zones: {{{usda_zones}}} Sunset Zones: {{{sunset_zones}}}
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Apiaceae (syn. Umbelliferae, from the predominating type of flower cluster)^CH. Celery Family. Herbs or rarely shrubs: stems often hollow: leaves alternate, rarely simple, usually ternately or pinnately compound: flowers minute, bisexual, regular or the outer irregular, epigynous; borne in simple or compound umbels^CH: sepals minute or wanting; petals 5, valvate and incurved in the bud; stamens 5, alternating with the petals, inserted around an epigynous disk; ovary 2-celled, inferior, each cell 1-seeded; styles 2: fruit very special, consisting of 2 dry, ribbed or winged, 1-seeded, indehiscent carpels (mericarps), which separate at the base but remain attached at the top to a very slender and flexuous Y-shaped stalk (carpophore) from which they dangle; between or under the ribs are oil-tubes^CH.

About 231 genera and 1,500 species are very commonly found in all boreal temperate and subtropical lands, but are rare in the tropics except in the mountains^CH. The Apiaceae is a distinct family, closely related to the Araliaceae, and more distantly to the Cornaceae. The umbels, the inferior ovary and the peculiar fruit are distinctive^CH.

The leaves are exceedingly diverse in size, shape and extent to which compounded^CH. Those of Eryngium are sword-shaped, or yucca-like, often spiny; those of Hydrocotyle are simple and often peltate^CH. Azorella of the Andes and New Zealand are turf-like or cushion-like, a xerophytic adaptation^CH. Some species of Angelica are immense herbs several metres high with enormous leaves^CH. The flowers, in general, are uniform in structure and appearance, the greatest diversity being in the fruit^CH.

Economic plants are abundant in the Umbelliferae; between 40 and 50 have been listed by some authors^CH. Various alkaloids and other compounds, some very poisonous, together with many kinds of resins, produced in the foliage, roots or seeds, form the basis of their economic importance^CH. Plants used for food are celery (Apium graveolens), carrot (Daucus carota), and parsley (Petroselinum sativum)^CH. Those used for flavoring are caraway (Carum carvi), anise (Pimpinella anisum), sweet cicely (Myrrhis odorata), chervil (Anthriscus cerefolium), dill (Anethum graveolens), fennel (Foeniculum vulare), lovage (Levisticum officinale)^CH. Very poisonous plants are poison hemlock (Conium maculatum), fool's parsley (Aethusa cynapium) and others^CH. The following drugs are obtained from this family: coriander (Coriandrum sativum), ammoniac resin (from Dorema ammaniacum), galbanum (a resin from species of Ferula)^CH. From various species of Ferula is obtained the vile-smelling gum-resin asafoetida, used in medicine, which the Persians are said to praise as a delicious condiment^CH. Some are grown for food, others for ornament: Sea Holly (Eryngium); Sanicle, or locally Black Snakeroot (Sanicula); Carrot (Daucus); Coriander (Coriandrum); Cumin (Cuminum); Celery (Apium); Caraway (Carum); Goutweed (Aegopodium); Sweet Cicely (Osmorhiza); European Sweet Cicely (Myrrhis); Fennel (Foeniculum); Lovage (Levisticum); Angelica (Angelica); Cow-parsnip (Heracleum). Poison hemlock (Conium) is a roadside weed^CH.

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References

• Standard Cyclopedia of Horticulture, by L. H. Bailey, MacMillan Co., 1963

External links

• w:Apiaceae. Some of the material on this page may be from Wikipedia, under the Creative Commons license.
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