Category:Apiaceae

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Carrot family
Umbelliferae: Apium leaves and tiny inflorescences, Daucus habit, Foeniculum inflorescences, Eryngium inflorescences, Petroselinum root.
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
Clade:	Angiosperms
Clade:	Eudicots
Clade:	Asterids
Order:	Apiales
Family:	Apiaceae Lindl.
Type genus
Apium L.
Subfamilies
Mackinlayoideae Plunkett & Lowry Azorelloideae Plunkett & Lowry Saniculoideae Burnett Apioideae Seemann
Synonyms
Umbelliferae

Apiaceae or Umbelliferae, is a family of mostly aromatic flowering plants named after the type genus Apium and commonly known as the celery, carrot or parsley family. It is the 16th-largest family of flowering plants, with more than 3,700 species in 434 genera^[1] including such well-known and economically important plants such as angelica, anise, asafoetida, caraway, carrot, celery, chervil, coriander, cumin, dill, fennel, hemlock, lovage, cow parsley, parsley, parsnip, sea holly, giant hogweed and silphium (a plant whose identity is unclear and which may be extinct).

Many members of this family are cultivated for various purposes. Parsnips (Pastinaca sativa), carrots (Daucus carota) and Hamburg parsley (Petroselinum crispum), produce tap roots that are large enough to be useful as food. Many species produce essential oils in their leaves or fruits and as a result are flavourful aromatic herbs. Examples are parsley (Petroselinum crispum), coriander (Coriandrum sativum), culantro, and dill (Anethum graveolens). The seeds may be used in cuisine, as with coriander (Coriandrum sativum), fennel (Foeniculum vulgare), cumin (Cuminum cyminum), and caraway (Carum carvi).

Other notable cultivated Apiaceae include chervil (Anthriscus cerefolium), angelica (Angelica spp.), celery (Apium graveolens), arracacha (Arracacia xanthorrhiza), sea holly (Eryngium spp.), asafoetida (Ferula asafoetida), galbanum (Ferula gummosa), cicely (Myrrhis odorata), anise (Pimpinella anisum), lovage (Levisticum officinale), and hacquetia (Hacquetia epipactis).

References

Acknowledgements

This article uses material from the Wikipedia article Apiaceae, which is released under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share-Alike License 3.0.