''Pastinaca'' (

parsnips The parsnip ('' Pastinaca sativa'') is a root vegetable closely related to carrot and parsley, all belonging to the flowering plant family Apiaceae. It is a biennial plant usually grown as an annual. Its long taproot has cream-colored ski ...

) is a genus of

flowering plant Flowering plants are plants that bear flowers and fruits, and form the clade Angiospermae (), commonly called angiosperms. The term "angiosperm" is derived from the Greek words ('container, vessel') and ('seed'), and refers to those plants th ...

in the family

Apiaceae Apiaceae or Umbelliferae is a family of mostly aromatic flowering plants named after the type genus ''Apium'' and commonly known as the celery, carrot or parsley family, or simply as umbellifers. It is the 16th-largest family of flowering plants ...

, comprising 14 species. Economically, the most important member of the genus is ''

Pastinaca sativa The parsnip (''Pastinaca sativa'') is a root vegetable closely related to carrot and parsley, all belonging to the flowering plant family Apiaceae. It is a biennial plant usually grown as an annual. Its long taproot has cream-colored skin and ...

'', the parsnip.

Etymology

The

etymology Etymology ()The New Oxford Dictionary of English (1998) – p. 633 "Etymology /ˌɛtɪˈmɒlədʒi/ the study of the class in words and the way their meanings have changed throughout time". is the study of the history of the Phonological chan ...

of the generic name ''Pastinaca'' is not known with certainty. The name may be derived from the

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

word ''pastino'' (or ''pastinare''), meaning "to prepare the ground for planting of the vine" (or more simply, "to dig") or the Latin word ''pastus'', meaning "food", liberally translated as "Earth-food".

Taxonomy

For comparison,

The Plant List The Plant List was a list of botanical names of species of plants created by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew and the Missouri Botanical Garden and launched in 2010. It was intended to be a comprehensive record of all known names of plant species ...

, the

Integrated Taxonomic Information System The Integrated Taxonomic Information System (ITIS) is an American partnership of federal agencies designed to provide consistent and reliable information on the taxonomy of biological species. ITIS was originally formed in 1996 as an interagenc ...

(ITIS), and the

National Plant Germplasm System The U.S. National Plant Germplasm System (NPGS) is a network of institutions and agencies (federal, state and private) led by the Agricultural Research Service (ARS) of the U.S. Department of Agriculture in the effort to conserve and facilitate t ...

(NPGS) recognize 6, 1, and 16 species in the genus ''Pastinaca'', respectively. In summary, 19 species names are accepted by at least one naming authority. Of those, 13 names are uncontested by some other authority. The following names are accepted by two or more naming authorities: '' Pastinaca hirsuta'' Pančić, '' Pastinaca lucida'' L., and ''

'' L. Only one of those names (''Pastinaca sativa'' L.) is accepted by all three naming authorities.

References

External links

* Apioideae Apiaceae genera {{Apiaceae-stub