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.

Common Name: WATER-HEMLOCK
Habit: Perennial herb, glabrous; rhizome internally chambered, sap becoming +- red-brown in air, fibrous- or tuberous-rooted. Stem: erect, hollow. Leaf: blade oblong to triangular-ovate, 1--3-pinnate or ternate-pinnate, leaflets linear to lance-ovate, serrate or irregularly cut. Inflorescence: umbels compound; bracts generally 0; bractlets generally inconspicuous; rays, pedicels many, spreading. Flower: calyx lobes minute; petals wide, white, tips narrowed. Fruit: ovoid to spheric, +- compressed side-to-side; ribs low, corky, occasionally unequally spaced; oil tube 1 per rib-interval; fruit axis divided to base. Seed: face flat or concave.
Etymology: (Ancient Latin name) Toxicity: TOXIC: the most lethally toxic native plant species.
Unabridged Note: Both species below contain cicutoxin, a strong poison; many livestock and human deaths recorded.
eFlora Treatment Author: Lincoln Constance & Margriet Wetherwax
Reference: [Lee & Downie 2006 Canad J Bot 84:453--468]
Unabridged Reference: [Mulligan 1980 Canad J Bot 58:1755--1767]