Alternatively Apiaceae Lindl. (sensu lato, nom. altern.)
Including Coriandraceae Burnett, Hydrocotylaceae (Drude) Hylander
Habit and leaf form. Herbs (mostly), or shrubs (some), or `arborescent', or trees (few); bearing essential oils, or without essential oils; resinous, or not resinous. Switch-plants (occasionally), or `normal' plants; occasionally phyllodineous (e.g. Lilaeopsis). Plants succulent (occasionally, e.g. Crithmum), or non-succulent. Annual, or biennial, or perennial; with a basal aggregation of leaves, or with neither basal nor terminal aggregations of leaves. Helophytic, or mesophytic. Leaves small to large; alternate; `herbaceous' (usually), or leathery (occasionally), or fleshy (rarely); petiolate, or perfoliate (Bupleurum); more or less sheathing. Leaf sheaths with free margins. Leaves gland-dotted, or not gland-dotted; aromatic, or foetid, or without marked odour (rarely); simple, or compound; peltate (sometimes), or not peltate; pulvinate, or epulvinate; when compound ternate, or pinnate, or bipinnate, or multiply compound, or palmate (rarely). Lamina when simple entire (commonly in Hydrocotyloideae), or dissected (usually); when simple/dissected pinnatifid (usually), or palmately lobed (rarely); pinnately veined, or palmately veined, or parallel-veined. Leaves stipulate (Hydrocotyloideae), or exstipulate (usually, but sometimes with `stipular flanges'); without a persistent basal meristem.
Leaf anatomy. Stomata present; anomocytic, or paracytic.
Adaxial hypodermis present, or absent. Lamina dorsiventral (usually), or isobilateral, or centric; with secretory cavities. Secretory cavities containing oil, or containing resin, or containing mucilage. Minor leaf veins with phloem transfer cells (Eryngium), or without phloem transfer cells (Aegopodium, Sanicula, Smyrnium).
Stem anatomy. Stems often with hollow internodes. Secretory cavities present; with resin, or with oil, or with mucilage. Nodes multilacunar (usually), or tri-lacunar. Cortical bundles present (commonly), or absent. Medullary bundles present, or absent. Secondary thickening developing from a conventional cambial ring, or anomalous; from a single cambial ring. Xylem with libriform fibres; with vessels. Vessel end-walls simple (usually), or scalariform. Wood parenchyma paratracheal (scanty to vasicentric). Sieve-tube plastids S-type.
Reproductive type, pollination. Hermaphrodite (usually), or andromonoecious, or polygamomonoecious, or dioecious (Acronema). Entomophilous.
Inflorescence, floral, fruit and seed morphology. Flowers aggregated in `inflorescences'; in umbels (nearly always), or in heads. The terminal inflorescence unit cymose, or racemose. Inflorescences terminal; often cymose umbels or heads arranged in cymose inflorescences, sometimes reduced to single flowers; with involucral bracts (usually, and/or with involucels), or without involucral bracts; pseudanthial (often, this phenomenon commonly associated with sterile flowers at the periphery), or not pseudanthial. Flowers bracteate; mostly small; regular to somewhat irregular. The floral asymmetry involving the perianth (the corolla only). Flowers 5 merous (except for the gynoecium); cyclic; tetracyclic. Free hypanthium absent.
Perianth with distinct calyx and corolla (usually, but the calyx usually very reduced), or sepaline (corolla rarely absent), or petaline (calyx teeth sometimes lacking); 4-10; 2 whorled, or 1 whorled (rarely); isomerous. Calyx when detectable, 5; 1 whorled; polysepalous (there being no calyx tube); lobulate, or lobed, or toothed; persistent; with the odd member posterior. Corolla 5; 1 whorled; polypetalous; valvate; unequal but not bilabiate, or regular; white, or yellow, or pink, or purple.
Androecium 5. Androecial members free of the perianth; all equal to markedly unequal; free of one another; 1 - whorled. Androecium exclusively of fertile stamens. Stamens 5; isomerous with the perianth; oppositisepalous; inflexed in bud. Anthers dehiscing via longitudinal slits; introrse; tetrasporangiate. Endothecium developing fibrous thickenings. Microsporogenesis simultaneous. The initial microspore tetrads tetrahedral, or isobilateral, or decussate. Anther wall initially with one middle layer; of the `dicot' type. Tapetum glandular. Pollen grains aperturate; (2-)3 - aperturate; mostly (tri-) colporate; 3-celled.
Gynoecium 2; syncarpous; synovarious; inferior. Ovary (1-)2 locular. Gynoecium median. Epigynous disk present. Gynoecium stylate. Styles 2; free to partially joined (their bases thickened into one or two stylopodes crowning the ovary); apical. Stigmas wet type; non-papillate; Group IV type. Placentation axile, or apical. Ovules 1 per locule, or 2 per locule (usually two, but one abortive); pendulous; epitropous; non-arillate; anatropous; unitegmic; tenuinucellate, or pseudocrassinucellate. Endothelium differentiated. Embryo-sac development Polygonum-type, or Allium-type, or Penaea-type, or Drusa-type. Antipodal cells formed; 3-11; proliferating, or not proliferating. Hypostase present, or absent. Endosperm formation nuclear. Embryogeny solanad.
Fruit non-fleshy; a schizocarp; comprising mericarps (united facially, 1-seeded, the integument sometimes united with the pericarp). Seeds endospermic. Endosperm oily. Embryo well differentiated (often small). Cotyledons 2. Embryo achlorophyllous (10/10); straight.
Seedling. Germination phanerocotylar.
Physiology, biochemistry. Not cyanogenic. Polyacetylenes recorded (falcarinone). Alkaloids present, or absent (but usually toxic via polyacetylenes). Iridoids absent. Proanthocyanidins absent. Flavonols present, or absent; kaempferol, or kaempferol and quercetin (mostly both). Ellagic acid absent (10 species, 10 genera). Arbutin absent. Saponins/sapogenins present, or absent. Aluminium accumulation not found. Inulin not found (umbelliferose recorded). C3. C3 recorded in Aciphylla, Crithmum, Daucus, Eryngium, Lomatium, Pastinaca, Pituranthos, Sium. Anatomy non-C4 type (Eryngium, Crithmum, Lomatium, Prangos, Sium).
Geography, cytology. Frigid zone to tropical. Cosmopolitan, but mainly North temperate. X = (4-)8-11(-12).
Taxonomy. Subclass Dicotyledonae; Crassinucelli. Dahlgren's Superorder Araliiflorae; Araliales. Cronquist's Subclass Rosidae; Apiales. Takhtajan's Subclass Rosidae; Aralianae; Araliales. Species 2850. Genera up to 421; Angelica, Anthriscus, Apium, Astrantia, Azorella, Bowlesia, Bupleurum, Carum, Chaerophyllum, Conium, Daucus, Coriandrum, Echinophora, Eryngium, Ferula, Foeniculum, Hydrocotyle, Lagoecia, Laserpitium, Ligusticum, Oenanthe, Pastinaca, Petroselinum, Peucadanum, Pimpinella, Sanicula, Seseli, Smyrnium, Thapsia, Torilis, etc.
Family review, Heywood 1971.
Economic uses, etc. Important sources of many foodstuffs and condiments: Daucus (carrot), Pastinaca (parsnip), Apium (celery), Petroselinum (parsley), Pimpinella (anise), Carum (caraway), Anethum (dill), Anthriscus (chervil), Foeniculum (fennel), Levisticum (lovage). Ornamentals: Eryngium, Angelica, Heracleum, Trachymene etc. Some with notoriously poisonous resins or alkaloids: Cicuta, Conium (hemlocks), Aethusa (fool's parsley).
Illustrations. umbel414.gif umbel466.gif umbel467.gif
