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: HOGWEED
Habit: Perennial herb from taproot or clustered roots. Stem: stout, erect, generally branched, hollow. Leaf: blades oblong to round, ternately, pinnately, or palmately compound (simple), leaflets large, lobed or serrate; distal-most cauline generally reduced to large sheaths. Inflorescence: umbels compound, large, margins generally sterile; bracts 0--few, generally deciduous; bractlets generally present, persistent; rays, pedicels many, spreading-ascending. Flower: marginal bilateral, outer petals > others, 2-lobed; calyx lobes generally 0; petals wide, white, +- yellow. Fruit: oblong-ovate to round or obcordate, compressed front-to-back; ribs unequal, marginal thin-winged, veined near outer margin, others thread-like; oil tubes 1--2 per rib-interval, unequal in length; fruit axis divided to base. Seed: face flat.
Etymology: (Hercules, presumably from large stature of some species)
eFlora Treatment Author: Lincoln Constance & Margriet Wetherwax