botany Botany, also called , plant biology or phytology, is the science of plant life and a branch of biology. A botanist, plant scientist or phytologist is a scientist who specialises in this field. The term "botany" comes from the Ancient Greek w ...

, an umbel is an

inflorescence An inflorescence is a group or cluster of flowers arranged on a Plant stem, stem that is composed of a main branch or a complicated arrangement of branches. Morphology (biology), Morphologically, it is the modified part of the shoot of sperma ...

that consists of a number of short

flower A flower, sometimes known as a bloom or blossom, is the reproductive structure found in flowering plants (plants of the division Angiospermae). The biological function of a flower is to facilitate reproduction, usually by providing a mechani ...

stalks (called

pedicels In botany, a pedicel is a stem that attaches a single flower to the inflorescence. Such inflorescences are described as ''pedicellate''. Description Pedicel refers to a structure connecting a single flower to its inflorescence. In the absenc ...

) that spread from a common point, somewhat like umbrella ribs. The word was coined in botanical usage in the 1590s, from Latin ''umbella'' "parasol, sunshade". The arrangement can vary from being flat-topped to almost spherical. Umbels can be simple or compound. The secondary umbels of compound umbels are known as umbellules or umbellets. A small umbel is called an umbellule. The arrangement of the inflorescence in umbels is referred to as umbellate, or occasionally subumbellate (almost umbellate). Umbels are a characteristic of plants such as carrot, parsley,

dill Dill (''Anethum graveolens'') is an annual herb in the celery family Apiaceae. It is the only species in the genus ''Anethum''. Dill is grown widely in Eurasia, where its leaves and seeds are used as a herb or spice for flavouring food. Growth ...

, and

fennel Fennel (''Foeniculum vulgare'') is a flowering plant species in the carrot family. It is a hardy, perennial herb with yellow flowers and feathery leaves. It is indigenous to the shores of the Mediterranean but has become widely naturalized ...

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 plan ...

;

ivy ''Hedera'', commonly called ivy (plural ivies), is a genus of 12–15 species of evergreen climbing or ground-creeping woody plants in the family Araliaceae, native to western, central and southern Europe, Macaronesia, northwestern Africa and ...

, ''

Aralia ''Aralia'' , or spikenard, is a genus of the family Araliaceae, consisting of 68 accepted species of deciduous or evergreen trees, shrubs, and rhizomatous herbaceous perennials. The genus is native to Asia and the Americas, with most species o ...

'' and ''

Fatsia ''Fatsia'' is a small genus of three species of evergreen shrubs in the family Araliaceae native to southern Japan and Taiwan. They typically have stout, sparsely branched stems bearing spirally-arranged, large leathery, palmately lobed leav ...

'' in the family

Araliaceae The Araliaceae are a family of flowering plants composed of about 43 genera and around 1500 species consisting of primarily woody plants and some herbaceous plants. The morphology of Araliaceae varies widely, but it is predominantly distinguish ...

; and

onion An onion (''Allium cepa'' L., from Latin ''cepa'' meaning "onion"), also known as the bulb onion or common onion, is a vegetable that is the most widely cultivated species of the genus ''Allium''. The shallot is a botanical variety of the onion ...

(''

Allium ''Allium'' is a genus of monocotyledonous flowering plants that includes hundreds of species, including the cultivated onion, garlic, scallion, shallot, leek, and chives. The generic name ''Allium'' is the Latin word for garlic,Gledhill, Davi ...

'') in the family

Alliaceae Allioideae is a subfamily of monocot flowering plants in the family Amaryllidaceae, order Asparagales. It was formerly treated as a separate family, Alliaceae. The subfamily name is derived from the generic name of the type genus, '' Allium'' ...

. An umbel is a type of indeterminate inflorescence. A compressed cyme, which is a determinate inflorescence, is called umbelliform if it resembles an umbel.

Gallery

File:Conioselinum pacificum 3573.JPG, Compound umbel of a hemlock-parsley, ''Conioselinum pacificum'' (Apiaceae) File:Daucus carota May 2008-1 edit.jpg, Compound umbel of a wild carrot, '' Daucus carota'' (Apiaceae) File:Fatsia japonica1.jpg, Simple umbel of ''

Fatsia japonica ''Fatsia japonica'', also fatsi, paperplant, false castor oil plant, or Japanese aralia, is a species of flowering plant in the family (biology), family Araliaceae, native plant, native to southern Japan and southern Korea. Etymology The name '' ...

'' (Araliaceae) File:Primula veris (inflorescense).jpg, Involucrate simple umbels of ''

Primula veris ''Primula veris'', the cowslip, common cowslip, or cowslip primrose ( syn. ''Primula officinalis'' ), is a herbaceous perennial flowering plant in the primrose family Primulaceae. The species is native throughout most of temperate Europe and ...

'' File:Pelargonium zonale umbel.jpg, Umbel of a ''

Pelargonium zonale ''Pelargonium zonale'' is a species of ''Pelargonium'' native to southern Africa in the western regions of the Cape Provinces, in the geranium family. It is one of the parents of the widely cultivated plant ''Pelargonium'' × ''hortorum'', ofte ...

'' File:Daucus carota (Queen Anne's lace) umbel down view.jpg, alt=Daucus carota (Queen Anne's lace) umbel down view, '' Daucus carota'' umbel down view

Gallery

References

Further reading