''Chaerophyllum bulbosum'' is a species of flowering plant from the carrot family and known by several common names, including turnip-rooted chervil, tuberous-rooted chervil, bulbous chervil, and parsnip chervil. It is native to Europe and

Western Asia Western Asia, West Asia, or Southwest Asia, is the westernmost subregion of the larger geographical region of Asia, as defined by some academics, UN bodies and other institutions. It is almost entirely a part of the Middle East, and includes Ana ...

. It was a popular vegetable in the 19th century. This is a tall annual herb with fringelike divided leaves and large

umbel In botany, an umbel is an inflorescence that consists of a number of short flower stalks (called pedicels) that spread from a common point, somewhat like umbrella ribs. The word was coined in botanical usage in the 1590s, from Latin ''umbella'' "p ...

s of white flowers. The plant is cultivated on a small scale in parts of Europe for the edible tubers, which look like a dark gray

carrot The carrot ('' Daucus carota'' subsp. ''sativus'') is a root vegetable, typically orange in color, though purple, black, red, white, and yellow cultivars exist, all of which are domesticated forms of the wild carrot, ''Daucus carota'', nat ...

with yellowish-white flesh. After the harvest they are stored for a few months under cold conditions. During storage, sugar content increases through

hydrolysis Hydrolysis (; ) is any chemical reaction in which a molecule of water breaks one or more chemical bonds. The term is used broadly for substitution reaction, substitution, elimination reaction, elimination, and solvation reactions in which water ...

starch Starch or amylum is a polymeric carbohydrate consisting of numerous glucose units joined by glycosidic bonds. This polysaccharide is produced by most green plants for energy storage. Worldwide, it is the most common carbohydrate in human diets ...

by amylases.

Description

Vegetative features

''Chaerophyllum bulbosum'' is a biennial plant. In the first year, its rosette of

leaves A leaf (plural, : leaves) is any of the principal appendages of a vascular plant plant stem, stem, usually borne laterally aboveground and specialized for photosynthesis. Leaves are collectively called foliage, as in "autumn foliage", wh ...

produces large amounts of starch, which are stored in the

taproot A taproot is a large, central, and dominant root from which other roots sprout laterally. Typically a taproot is somewhat straight and very thick, is tapering in shape, and grows directly downward. In some plants, such as the carrot, the taproo ...

to provide energy for the plant to flower in the second year. In the second year, it grows up to a height of 70 cm to > 2 m.REUTHER, Kerstin et CLAßEN-BOCKHOFF, Regine. Andromonoecy and developmental plasticity in Chaerophyllum bulbosum (Apiaceae–Apioideae). ''Annals of botany'', 2013, vol. 112, no 8, p. 1495-1503. The stem is smooth with nodes at intervals. It is hairy around the base just above the ground and may show scattered red spots. Additionally, the lower stem is often blue-rimmed. Subsequent leaves are

alternate Alternative or alternate may refer to: Arts, entertainment and media * Alternative (''Kamen Rider''), a character in the Japanese TV series ''Kamen Rider Ryuki'' * ''The Alternative'' (film), a 1978 Australian television film * ''The Alternative ...

(with a single leaf attached to a node), spirally arranged, and

pinnately Pinnation (also called pennation) is the arrangement of feather-like or multi-divided features arising from both sides of a common axis. Pinnation occurs in biological morphology, in crystals, such as some forms of ice or metal crystals, and in ...

compound, with leaf bases sheathing the stem. As the plant grows, the bases of the seed leaves, near the taproot, are pushed apart. The stem, located just above the ground, is compressed and the

internodes A stem is one of two main structural axes of a vascular plant, the other being the root. It supports leaves, flowers and fruits, transports water and dissolved substances between the roots and the shoots in the xylem and phloem, stores nutrien ...

are not distinct. When the seed stalk elongates for flowering, the tip of the stem narrows and becomes pointed, and the stem extends upward to become a highly branched

inflorescence An inflorescence is a group or cluster of flowers arranged on a stem that is composed of a main branch or a complicated arrangement of branches. Morphologically, it is the modified part of the shoot of seed plants where flowers are formed o ...

Flower features

Characteristic of an Apiaceae plant, ''Chaerophyllum bulbosum'' individuals produce 10 - 200

s. A total of 1,000 - 36,000

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 ...

s are produced per plant. The flowers are

protandrous Sequential hermaphroditism (called dichogamy in botany) is a type of hermaphroditism that occurs in many fish, gastropods, and plants. Sequential hermaphroditism occurs when the individual changes its sex at some point in its life. In particular, ...

. The styles only elongate after pollen is shed, which prevents selfing almost completely under wild, optimal pollination conditions. ''Chaerophyllum bulbosum'' is an andromonoecious plant, which means that the

hermaphrodite In reproductive biology, a hermaphrodite () is an organism that has both kinds of reproductive organs and can produce both gametes associated with male and female sexes. Many Taxonomy (biology), taxonomic groups of animals (mostly invertebrate ...

and male flowers occur on the same plant. The

sex ratio The sex ratio (or gender ratio) is usually defined as the ratio of males to females in a population. As explained by Fisher's principle, for evolutionary reasons this is typically about 1:1 in species which reproduce sexually. Many species devia ...

between functionally male and hermaphrodite flowers is about 80% to 20%. Chaerophyllum_bulbosum_repartition_

Wild populations

Native, wild populations are distributed in Europe from

Ukraine Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders to the east and northeast. Ukraine covers approximately . Prior to the ongoing Russian inv ...

to France and from

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

. In

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

and

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

, wild populations can be found in the Rhine and the Weser River basins. It can also be found in Western and central Asia as in

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a list of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolia, Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with ...

and Caucasus. In the wild, tuberous-rooted chervil grows in dense populations, mainly along river banks. Seeds are dispersed by

hydrochory In Spermatophyte plants, seed dispersal is the movement, spread or transport of seeds away from the parent plant. Plants have limited mobility and rely upon a variety of dispersal vectors to transport their seeds, including both abiotic vectors, ...

Breeding

The plant has been grown since the Middle Ages but only survived as a garden crop in France without any named varieties. However, the first named cultivar in modern times seems to have been developed in France, named “Altan” (1986), followed by new cultivars “Véga” and “M4.10.” The new varieties are mainly characterized by low seed embryo dormancy.PÉRON, J. Y. et BRIARD, M. Breeding advances in tuberous-rooted chervil (Chaerophyllum bulbosum L.), a new" old vegetable" among the Apiaceae. In : ''International Symposium on Sustainable Use of Plant Biodiversity to Promote New Opportunities for Horticultural Production 598''. 2001. p. 235-242.

Use

It is otherwise used in cuisine for flavoring or cooked like other root vegetables. Much of the flavor comes from the skin of the tuber. The aroma intensifies the longer the plant is stored. Eaten raw, the taste is somewhat sharp like radish, but the cooked tuber gives a subtle taste of

potato The potato is a starchy food, a tuber of the plant ''Solanum tuberosum'' and is a root vegetable native to the Americas. The plant is a perennial in the nightshade family Solanaceae. Wild potato species can be found from the southern Unit ...

es and

chestnut The chestnuts are the deciduous trees and shrubs in the genus ''Castanea'', in the beech family Fagaceae. They are native to temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere. The name also refers to the edible nuts they produce. The unrelat ...

s with a slightly pungent taste of

celery Celery (''Apium graveolens'') is a marshland plant in the family Apiaceae that has been cultivated as a vegetable since antiquity. Celery has a long fibrous stalk tapering into leaves. Depending on location and cultivar, either its stalks, lea ...

and

parsnip 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 an ...

. ''C. bulbosum'' roots are high in fiber and have the same starchy quality as potatoes. They contain vitamins B and C and mineral salts.

Origin and history

Tuberous-rooted chervil (''Chaerophyllum bulbosum'') is native to middle- and south-eastern-Europe. During the 1580s, tubers of tuberous-rooted chervil were found at the local market in

Wien en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

. In 1846, the tubers arrived in France. 16 years later, the tubers became even more prominent due to ''Phytophthora infestans'',

late blight ''Phytophthora infestans'' is an oomycete or water mold, a fungus-like microorganism that causes the serious potato and tomato disease known as late blight or potato blight. Early blight, caused by ''Alternaria solani'', is also often called "pot ...

of potatoes, and had been increasingly cultivated as a substitute for potatoes. At the end of the 20th century breeding programs focused on this alternative crop mainly due to its delicate flavor. Through breeding achievements of French scientists, this alternative crop gained agricultural importance in regions like Loire Valley (France) and the north of

Brittany Brittany (; french: link=no, Bretagne ; br, Breizh, or ; Gallo language, Gallo: ''Bertaèyn'' ) is a peninsula, Historical region, historical country and cultural area in the west of modern France, covering the western part of what was known ...

Cultivation

The cultivation is similar to

s and

s. An adequate site for cultivation is characterized by light and fertile soils. The soil should be moderately moist. Cultivation period is from 9 up to 10 months. The seeds require exposure to cold temperatures (

vernalization Vernalization (from Latin ''vernus'', "of the spring") is the induction of a plant's flowering process by exposure to the prolonged cold of winter, or by an artificial equivalent. After vernalization, plants have acquired the ability to flower, ...

) to break

dormancy Dormancy is a period in an organism's life cycle when growth, development, and (in animals) physical activity are temporarily stopped. This minimizes metabolic activity and therefore helps an organism to conserve energy. Dormancy tends to be clo ...

in spring. The crop cultivation starts therefore in the autumn. The dormancy ends with at least 8 weeks of continuous humidity and temperatures below 5 °C. After

stratification Stratification may refer to: Mathematics * Stratification (mathematics), any consistent assignment of numbers to predicate symbols * Data stratification in statistics Earth sciences * Stable and unstable stratification * Stratification, or str ...

, germination is at optimum with a temperature range between 5 and 10 °C. At temperatures above 25 to 30 °C significant germination inhibition occurs. Sowing is done directly, without any seedling cultivation, from September to November. Distance between rows is usually from 20 up to 25 cm with a distance of 4 to 6 cm between seeds. In the first year of growth, after sprouting in spring, the tuber develops with a leaf rosette just above ground.

Vole Voles are small rodents that are relatives of lemmings and hamsters, but with a stouter body; a longer, hairy tail; a slightly rounder head; smaller eyes and ears; and differently formed molars (high-crowned with angular cusps instead of low-c ...

s are a common pest for this crop in the field. Harvest Root maturity is reached when leaves turn yellow in June. The main harvest time starts in July and lasts until September. Due to the requirement of a dormancy period, it is almost mandatory to sow the seeds directly after harvest for the upcoming season. Because of this, and due to the low yield and poor germination of the seeds, ''Chaerophyllum bulbosum'' has hardly spread in commercial cultivation. Propagation Sexual propagation through saving seeds, after harvest of the roots, is the main method of propagation. The seeds are short-lived, which means that the seeds lose their

vitality Vitality (, , ) is the capacity to live, grow, or develop. More simply it is the property of having life. The perception of vitality is regarded as a basic psychological drive and, in philosophy, a component to the will to live. As such, peopl ...

easily (especially in dry seed packets); therefore, fresh seeds should be used every year. Keeping the seeds in cool and slightly damp sand might help sustain their vitality. Pollinators for ''Chaerophyllum bulbosum'' includes

flies Flies are insects of the order Diptera, the name being derived from the Greek δι- ''di-'' "two", and πτερόν ''pteron'' "wing". Insects of this order use only a single pair of wings to fly, the hindwings having evolved into advanced ...

and

beetle Beetles are insects that form the order Coleoptera (), in the superorder Endopterygota. Their front pair of wings are hardened into wing-cases, elytra, distinguishing them from most other insects. The Coleoptera, with about 400,000 describ ...

s. Diseases Similar diseases as for carrots and parsnip and other Apiaceae can occur for tuberous-rooted chervil. These are mainly the

carrot fly The carrot fly (''Chamaepsila rosae'') is a pest of gardens and farms, and mainly affects the crop of carrots, but can also attack parsnips, parsley and celery. It is a member of the family Psilidae (order Diptera). Larvae Crop damage is caused ...

, storage decay and root aphids. Furthermore, it can be host for other aphids, erysiphe heracley or

celery mosaic virus Celery mosaic virus (CeMV) is a Plant virus, plant pathogenic virus in the genus'' Potyvirus '' and the virus family '' Potyviridae ''. In California, mosaic diseases of celery (''Apium graveolens'') were reported as early as 1922. After some t ...

Gallery

File:20130620Kaelberkropf Hockenheim3.jpg, File:Chaerophyllum bulbosum 1.jpg, File:Chaerophyllum bulbosum (cropped).jpg,

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q1777420 bulbosum Edible Apiaceae Flora of Western Asia Flora of Europe Plants described in 1753 Root vegetables Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus