Apiaceae () or Umbelliferae is a family of mostly aromatic

flowering plant Flowering plants are plants that bear flowers and fruits, and form the clade Angiospermae (). The term angiosperm is derived from the Ancient Greek, Greek words (; 'container, vessel') and (; 'seed'), meaning that the seeds are enclosed with ...

s named after the

type genus In biological taxonomy, the type genus (''genus typica'') is the genus which defines a biological family and the root of the family name. Zoological nomenclature According to the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature, "The name-bearin ...

'' Apium,'' and commonly known as the celery, carrot, or parsley family, or simply as umbellifers. It is the 16th-largest family of flowering plants, with more than 3,800

species A species () is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate sexes or mating types can produce fertile offspring, typically by sexual reproduction. It is the basic unit of Taxonomy (biology), ...

in about 446

genera Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family as used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In binomial nomenclature, the genus name forms the first part of the binomial s ...

,Stevens, P.F. (2001 onwards).
APIACEAE Lindley, nom. cons.
''Angiosperm Phylogeny Website''. Retrieved 16 December 2022. including such well-known, and economically important plants as ajwain,

angelica ''Angelica'' is a genus of about 90 species of tall Biennial plant, biennial and Perennial plant, perennial herbaceous, herbs in the family Apiaceae, native to temperate and subarctic regions of the Northern Hemisphere, reaching as far north as ...

, anise,

asafoetida Asafoetida (; also spelled asafetida) is the dried latex (Natural gum, gum oleoresin) exuded from the rhizome or tap root of several species of ''Ferula'', perennial herbs of the carrot family. It is produced in Iran, Afghanistan, Central As ...

, caraway, carrot,

celery Celery (''Apium graveolens'' Dulce Group or ''Apium graveolens'' var. ''dulce'') is a cultivated plant belonging to the species ''Apium graveolens'' in the family Apiaceae that has been used as a vegetable since ancient times. The original wild ...

, chervil,

coriander Coriander (), whose leaves are known as cilantro () in the U.S. and parts of Canada, and dhania in parts of South Asia and Africa, is an annual plant, annual herb (''Coriandrum sativum'') in the family Apiaceae. Most people perceive the ...

, cumin, dill,

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 ...

, lovage, cow parsley, parsley, parsnip and sea holly, as well as silphium, a plant whose exact identity is unclear and which may be extinct. The family Apiaceae includes a significant number of phototoxic species, such as giant hogweed, and a smaller number of highly poisonous species, such as poison hemlock, water hemlock, spotted cowbane, fool's parsley, and various species of water dropwort.

Description

Most Apiaceae are annual, biennial or

perennial In horticulture, the term perennial ('' per-'' + '' -ennial'', "through the year") is used to differentiate a plant from shorter-lived annuals and biennials. It has thus been defined as a plant that lives more than 2 years. The term is also ...

herbs (frequently with the leaves aggregated toward the base), though a minority are woody

shrub A shrub or bush is a small to medium-sized perennial woody plant. Unlike herbaceous plants, shrubs have persistent woody stems above the ground. Shrubs can be either deciduous or evergreen. They are distinguished from trees by their multiple ...

s or small trees such as '' Bupleurum fruticosum''. Their leaves are of variable size, and alternately arranged, or with the upper leaves becoming nearly opposite. The leaves may be petiolate or sessile. There are no

stipules In botany, a stipule is an outgrowth typically borne on both sides (sometimes on just one side) of the base of a leafstalk (the petiole). They are primarily found among dicots and rare among monocots. Stipules are considered part of the anatomy ...

but the petioles are frequently sheathing, and the leaves may be perfoliate. The leaf blade is usually dissected,

ternate Ternate (), also known as the City of Ternate (; ), is the List of regencies and cities of Indonesia, city with the largest population in the province of North Maluku and an island in the Maluku Islands, Indonesia. It was the ''de facto'' provi ...

, or pinnatifid, but simple, and entire in some genera, e.g. '' Bupleurum''. Commonly, their leaves emit a marked smell when crushed, aromatic to fetid, but absent in some species. The defining characteristic of this family is the

inflorescence In botany, an inflorescence is a group or cluster of flowers arranged on a plant's Plant stem, stem that is composed of a main branch or a system of branches. An inflorescence is categorized on the basis of the arrangement of flowers on a mai ...

, the flowers nearly always aggregated in terminal umbels, that may be simple or more commonly compound, often umbelliform cymes. The flowers are usually perfect ( hermaphroditic), and actinomorphic, but there may be

zygomorphic Floral symmetry describes whether, and how, a flower, in particular its perianth, can be divided into two or more identical or mirror-image parts. Uncommonly, flowers may have no axis of symmetry at all, typically because their parts are spir ...

flowers at the edge of the umbel, as in carrot ('' Daucus carota'') and

, with petals of unequal size, the ones pointing outward from the umbel larger than the ones pointing inward. Some are andromonoecious, polygamomonoecious, or even dioecious (as in '' Acronema''), with a distinct calyx, and corolla, but the calyx is often highly reduced, to the point of being undetectable in many species, while the corolla can be white, yellow, pink or purple. The flowers are nearly perfectly pentamerous, with five

petal Petals are modified leaves that form an inner whorl surrounding the reproductive parts of flowers. They are often brightly coloured or unusually shaped to attract pollinators. All of the petals of a flower are collectively known as the ''corol ...

s and five

stamen The stamen (: stamina or stamens) is a part consisting of the male reproductive organs of a flower. Collectively, the stamens form the androecium., p. 10 Morphology and terminology A stamen typically consists of a stalk called the filament ...

s. There is often variation in the functionality of the stamens even within a single inflorescence. Some flowers are functionally staminate (where a pistil may be present but has no ovules capable of being fertilized) while others are functionally pistillate (where stamens are present but their anthers do not produce viable pollen). Pollination of one flower by the pollen of a different flower of the same plant ( geitonogamy) is common. The

gynoecium Gynoecium (; ; : gynoecia) is most commonly used as a collective term for the parts of a flower that produce ovules and ultimately develop into the fruit and seeds. The gynoecium is the innermost whorl (botany), whorl of a flower; it consists ...

consists of two carpels fused into a single, bicarpellate pistil with an inferior ovary. Stylopodia support two styles, and secrete nectar, attracting pollinators like flies, mosquitoes, gnats, beetles, moths, and bees. The fruit is a schizocarp consisting of two fused carpels that separate at maturity into two mericarps, each containing a single seed. The fruits of many species are dispersed by wind but others such as those of '' Daucus'' spp., are covered in bristles, which may be hooked in sanicle '' Sanicula europaea'' and thus catch in the fur of animals. The seeds have an oily

endosperm The endosperm is a tissue produced inside the seeds of most of the flowering plants following double fertilization. It is triploid (meaning three chromosome sets per nucleus) in most species, which may be auxin-driven. It surrounds the Embryo#Pla ...

Watson, L., Dallwitz, M.J. (1992 onwards
The families of flowering plants: descriptions, illustrations, identification, and information retrieval
. Version: 4 March 2011. and often contain essential oils, containing aromatic compounds that are responsible for the flavour of commercially important umbelliferous seed such as anise, cumin and

. The shape and details of the ornamentation of the ripe fruits are important for identification to species level.

Taxonomy

Apiaceae was first described by

John Lindley John Lindley Fellow of the Royal Society, FRS (5 February 1799 – 1 November 1865) was an English botanist, gardener and orchidology, orchidologist. Early years Born in Old Catton, Catton, near Norwich, England, John Lindley was one of four c ...

in 1836. The name is derived from the type genus '' Apium'', which was originally used by

Pliny the Elder Gaius Plinius Secundus (AD 23/24 79), known in English as Pliny the Elder ( ), was a Roman Empire, Roman author, Natural history, naturalist, and naval and army commander of the early Roman Empire, and a friend of the Roman emperor, emperor Vesp ...

circa 50 AD for a

-like plant. The alternative name for the family, Umbelliferae, derives from the

being generally in the form of a compound umbel. The family was one of the first to be recognized as a distinct group in Jacques Daleschamps' 1586 ''Historia generalis plantarum''. With Robert Morison's 1672 ''Plantarum umbelliferarum distribution nova'' it became the first group of plants for which a systematic study was published. The family is solidly placed within the Apiales order in the APG III system. It is closely related to

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 commonly called the ginseng family. The morphology of Araliaceae varies widely ...

and the boundaries between these families remain unclear. Traditionally groups within the family have been delimited largely based on fruit morphology, and the results from this have not been congruent with the more recent molecular

phylogenetic In biology, phylogenetics () is the study of the evolutionary history of life using observable characteristics of organisms (or genes), which is known as phylogenetic inference. It infers the relationship among organisms based on empirical dat ...

analyses. The subfamilial and tribal classification for the family is currently in a state of flux, with many of the groups being found to be grossly

paraphyletic Paraphyly is a taxonomic term describing a grouping that consists of the grouping's last common ancestor and some but not all of its descendant lineages. The grouping is said to be paraphyletic ''with respect to'' the excluded subgroups. In co ...

polyphyletic A polyphyletic group is an assemblage that includes organisms with mixed evolutionary origin but does not include their most recent common ancestor. The term is often applied to groups that share similar features known as Homoplasy, homoplasies ...

Classification and phylogeny

Prior to

molecular phylogenetic Molecular phylogenetics () is the branch of phylogeny that analyzes genetic, hereditary molecular differences, predominantly in DNA sequences, to gain information on an organism's evolutionary relationships. From these analyses, it is possible to ...

studies, the family was subdivided primarily based on fruit characteristics. Molecular phylogenetic analyses from the mid-1990s onwards have shown that fruit characters evolved in parallel many times, so that using them in classification resulted in units that were not

monophyletic In biological cladistics for the classification of organisms, monophyly is the condition of a taxonomic grouping being a clade – that is, a grouping of organisms which meets these criteria: # the grouping contains its own most recent co ...

. In 2004, it was proposed that Apiaceae should be divided into four subfamilies: * Apioideae Seem. *

Azorelloideae This is a list of genera belonging to the family Apiaceae. It contains all the genera listed by Plants of the World Online (PoWO) . A few extra genus names are included that PoWO regards as synonyms. Unless otherwise indicated, the placement of gen ...

G.M.Plunkett & Lowry * Mackinlayoideae G.M.Plunkett & Lowry * Saniculoideae Burnett Apioideae is by far the largest subfamily with about 90% of the genera. Most subsequent studies have supported this division, although leaving some genera unplaced. A 2021 study suggested the relationships shown in the following cladogram. The '' Platysace'' clade and the genera '' Klotzschia'' and '' Hermas'' fell outside the four subfamilies. It was suggested that they could be accommodated in subfamilies of their own. '' Phlyctidocarpa'' was formerly placed in the subfamily Apioideae, but if kept there makes Apioideae

. It could be placed in an enlarged Saniculoideae, or restored to Apioideae if the latter were expanded to include Saniculoideae. The subfamilies can be further divided into tribes and clades, with many clades falling outside formally recognized tribes.

Genera

The number of genera accepted by sources varies. ,

Plants of the World Online Plants of the World Online (POWO) is an online taxonomic database published by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. History Following the Convention on Biological Diversity, the Royal Botanic Gardens in Kew launched Plants of the World Online i ...

(PoWO) accepted 444 genera, while GRIN Taxonomy accepted 462. The PoWO genera are not a subset of those in GRIN; for example, '' Haloselinum'' is accepted by PoWO but not by GRIN, while ''Halosciastrum'' is accepted by GRIN but not by PoWO, which treats it as a synonym of ''

Angelica ''Angelica'' is a genus of about 90 species of tall Biennial plant, biennial and Perennial plant, perennial herbaceous, herbs in the family Apiaceae, native to temperate and subarctic regions of the Northern Hemisphere, reaching as far north as ...

''. The Angiosperm Phylogeny Website had an "approximate list" of 446 genera. File:Chaerophyllum_bulbosum_-_Köhler–s_Medizinal-Pflanzen-177.jpg, '' Chaerophyllum bulbosum'' File:Apiaceae Pimpinella anisum.jpg, Anise (''Pimpinella anisum'')
from Woodville (1793) File:Angelica archangelica (1118596627).jpg, ''

Angelica archangelica ''Angelica archangelica'', commonly known as angelica, garden angelica, wild celery, and Norwegian angelica, is a biennial plant from the family Apiaceae, a subspecies of which is cultivated for its sweetly scented edible stems and roots. Like ...

'' File:Coriandrum sativum 003.JPG, Umbel of '' Coriandrum sativum'' showing strong zygomorphy (asymmetry) in the outer flowers.

Ecology

The black swallowtail butterfly, '' Papilio polyxenes'', uses the family Apiaceae for food and host plants for

oviposition The ovipositor is a tube-like organ used by some animals, especially insects, for the laying of eggs. In insects, an ovipositor consists of a maximum of three pairs of appendages. The details and morphology of the ovipositor vary, but typica ...

. The 22-spot ladybird is also commonly found eating mildew on these plants.

Uses

Many members of this family are cultivated for various purposes. Parsnip ('' Pastinaca sativa''), carrot ('' Daucus carota'') and Hamburg parsley ('' Petroselinum crispum'') produce tap roots that are large enough to be useful as food. Many species produce

essential oil An essential oil is a concentrated hydrophobic liquid containing volatile (easily evaporated at normal temperatures) chemical compounds from plants. Essential oils are also known as volatile oils, ethereal oils, aetheroleum, or simply as the ...

s in their leaves or fruits and as a result are flavourful aromatic herbs. Examples are parsley ('' Petroselinum crispum''),

(''Coriandrum sativum''), culantro, and dill (''Anethum graveolens''). The seeds may be used in cuisine, as with

(''Coriandrum sativum''),

(''Foeniculum vulgare''), cumin (''Cuminum cyminum''), and caraway (''Carum carvi''). Other notable cultivated Apiaceae include chervil (''Anthriscus cerefolium''),

(''Angelica'' spp.),

(''Apium graveolens''), arracacha (''Arracacia xanthorrhiza''), sea holly (''Eryngium'' spp.),

(''Ferula asafoetida''), galbanum (''Ferula gummosa''), cicely (''Myrrhis odorata''), anise (''Pimpinella anisum''), lovage (''Levisticum officinale''), and hacquetia (''Sanicula epipactis'').

Cultivation

Generally, all members of this family are best cultivated in the cool-season garden; they may not grow at all if the soils are too warm. Almost every widely cultivated plant of this group is a considered useful as a companion plant. One reason is that the tiny flowers, clustered into umbels, are well suited for ladybugs, parasitic wasps, and predatory

flies Flies are insects of the Order (biology), order Diptera, the name being derived from the Ancient Greek, Greek δι- ''di-'' "two", and πτερόν ''pteron'' "wing". Insects of this order use only a single pair of wings to fly, the hindwin ...

, which drink nectar when not reproducing. They then prey upon insect pests on nearby plants. Some of the members of this family considered "herbs" produce scents that are believed to mask the odours of nearby plants, thus making them harder for insect pests to find.

Other uses

The poisonous members of the Apiaceae have been used for a variety of purposes globally. The poisonous ''

Oenanthe crocata ''Oenanthe crocata'', hemlock water-dropwort (sometimes known as dead man's fingers) is a flowering plant in the Apiaceae, carrot family, native to Europe, North Africa and western Asia. It grows in damp grassland and wet woodland, often along ri ...

'' has been used as an aid in suicides, and arrow poisons have been made from various other family species. '' Daucus carota'' has been used as coloring for butter. '' Dorema ammoniacum'', '' Ferula galbaniflua'', and '' Ferula moschata'' (sumbul) are sources of

incense Incense is an aromatic biotic material that releases fragrant smoke when burnt. The term is used for either the material or the aroma. Incense is used for aesthetic reasons, religious worship, aromatherapy, meditation, and ceremonial reasons. It ...

. The woody ''Azorella compacta'' Phil. has been used in South America for fuel.

Toxicity

Many species in the family Apiaceae produce phototoxic substances (called furanocoumarins) that sensitize human skin to sunlight. Contact with plant parts that contain furanocoumarins, followed by exposure to sunlight, may cause

phytophotodermatitis Phytophotodermatitis, also known as berloque dermatitis,, margarita photodermatitis,, lime disease or lime phytodermatitis is a cutaneous phototoxic inflammatory reaction resulting from contact with a light-sensitizing botanical agent (such as ...

, a serious skin inflammation. Phototoxic species include '' Ammi majus'', '' Notobubon galbanum,'' the parsnip ('' Pastinaca sativa'') and numerous species of the genus '' Heracleum'', especially the giant hogweed ('' Heracleum mantegazzianum''). Of all the plant species that have been reported to induce phytophotodermatitis, approximately half belong to the family Apiaceae. The family Apiaceae also includes a smaller number of poisonous species, including poison hemlock, water hemlock, spotted cowbane, fool's parsley, and various species of water dropwort. Some members of the family Apiaceae, including carrot,

, parsley and parsnip, contain polyynes, an unusual class of organic compounds that exhibit cytotoxic effects.

References

External links

*

at ''The Families of Flowering Plants (DELTA)''
Apiaceae
at ''Discover Life''

at the ''Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh''
Umbellifer Information Server
at ''Moscow State University'' {{Authority control Asterid families