Common Name: CARROT FAMILY
Habit: Annual to perennial herb [shrub, tree], generally from taproot. Stem: generally +- scapose, generally ribbed, hollow. Leaf: basal and generally cauline, generally alternate; stipules generally 0; petiole base generally sheathing stem; blade generally much dissected, occasionally compound. Inflorescence: umbel or head, simple or compound, generally peduncled; bracts present in involucres or 0; bractlets generally present in "involucels". Flower: many, small, generally bisexual (or some staminate), generally radial (or outer bilateral); calyx 0 or lobes 5, small; petals 5, free, generally ovate or spoon-shaped, generally incurved at tips, generally +- ephemeral; stamens 5; pistil 1, ovary inferior, 2-chambered, generally with a +- conic, persistent projection or platform at tip subtending 2 free styles. Fruit: 2 dry, 1-seeded halves (= mericarps), separating from each other but generally +- persistent to central axis; ribs on halves 5, 2 marginal, 3 to back; oil tubes 1--several per interval between ribs.
Genera In Family: 300 genera, 3000 species: +- worldwide, especially temperate; many cultivated for food or spice (e.g., Carum, caraway; Daucus; Petroselinum); Bupleurum lancifolium Hornem. is historical garden weed; some toxic (e.g., Conium). Note: Mature fruit generally critical in identification, shape given in outline. Hydrocotyle moved to Araliaceae, Orogenia moved to Lomatium, Sphenosciadium moved to Angelica. Petroselinum crispum (Mill.) A.W. Hill is a waif.
eFlora Treatment Author: Lincoln Constance & Margriet Wetherwax, except as noted
Scientific Editor: Douglas H. Goldman, Bruce G. Baldwin.

Habit: Perennial herb, taprooted, glabrous to minutely scabrous. Stem: erect, leafy, conspicuously fibrous at base, generally branched. Leaf: blade oblong to round, ternately or pinnately compound or dissected, leaflets oblong to obovate, entire to deeply pinnately lobed, segments linear to oblong. Inflorescence: compound umbels; bracts generally 0; bractlets 0 or inconspicuous; rays, pedicels few to many, spreading-ascending. Flower: calyx lobes minute; petals wide, white [+- pink]. Fruit: oblong to elliptic, +- compressed side-to-side; ribs +- equal, thread-like to narrowly winged; oil tubes generally several per rib-interval; fruit axis divided to base. Seed: face flat to concave.
Etymology: (Liguria, Italy, home of related Levisticum, lovage) Note: Genus and species poorly defined.
eFlora Treatment Author: Lincoln Constance & Margriet Wetherwax
Reference: [Leute 1970 Ann Naturhist Mus Wien 74:457--519]