Class: | angiosperms |
Order: | Apiales |
Family: | Apiaceae |
Editor | K.F. Günther in preparation |
Name acc. to: | APGII |
Herbar: | list records |
Synonym: | Umbelliferae |
Description: | Leaves alternate, mostly large and divided. Inflorescence a simple or compound umbel with variyng bracts and bracteoles. Flower uniform: regular with a reduced calyx (except Eryngium planum), 5 petals, 5 free stamens, ovary inferior with stylopodium. Fruit a dry schizocarp that splits down a septum into 2 single seeded mericarps; mericarp normally with 5 primary ridges but form and outer surface show remarkable range of variation. |
Confuse with: | Araliaceae |
Tax. Comments: | Easy to recognized family with characteristic inflorescence, special fruits and distinctive chemistry. The small amount of hybridization is remarcable. |
Comments: | Fruit features are characteristic on genus level as they are related to special dispersal strategies. |
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| genus: 34 |
| species: 67 |
Habit (i)general appearance of a plant | |
Growth form: (i)Herb, shrub, tree or climber. | herb (i)Herbaceous, erect plant, up to 2m high, mostly with a leafy shoot; if perennial, shoots die to the ground each season, shoots are not woody example: Artemisia pectinata
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Parasite status: (i)Is the plant a half- or full parasite? | no parasite/saprophyte (i)Plant fully autonomous, leaves with chlorophyll example: Most plants, Ranunculus
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Water or terrestrial plant: (i)Where do the plants grow? | terrestrial (i)Plant grows on dry land example: Orostachys spinosa
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Leaf (i)expanded, usually photosynthetic organ of a plant (including phylloclades) | |
Leaf development: (i)Structure and development of leaves. | with green leaves (i)Plant with green leaves
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Leaf arrangement: (i)Arrangement of leaves at the stem. | alternate (i)One leaf per node; distiche: arranged in two vertical rows, equitant example: Phragmites
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Simple or divided leaves: (i)Are the leaves simple or completely divided in several parts? Blade of the leaf entire or (more or less) deeply dissected. Attention: There are various appearances of the leaf margin (from entire to toothed and lobed). Here, we ignore this and ask only for dissections that separate the leaf for more than one third of its length or width, whatever is smaller. Sometimes, it is difficult to tell apart compound leaves from a shoot system with simple leaves: look for stipulae and/or axillary buds at the ground of the leaves: if only some possess these structures, the others are most likely leaflets of a compound leaf. | simple (i)Non-divided leaf, but margin may be incised nearly to the ground trifoliate (i)Three-parted leaf (often called ternate) example: Trifolium, Thermopsis compound (i)Composed of several similar parts pinnate (i)With leaflets on both sides of an axis, at least 2 pairs or more example: Onobrychis bipinnate (i)Twofold pinnate (two levels of pinnae)
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Petiole: (i)Leaf divided into stalk (petiole) and blade. | with (i)Leaves with petiole (stalk)
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Stipule: (i)Leaflets at the base of the petiole, these are smaller and of different shape. | none (i)Without stipules example: Euphorbia, Ericaceae s.l.
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Leaf colour upper side: (i)Shades of green on the leaf, upper side. | green (i)Clear green example: Tribulus terrestris
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Flower (i)reproductive portion of the plant, consisting of sepals, petals, stamens, and pistils | |
Flower appearance and pollination: (i)General appearance of the flower. | attractive, animal-pollinated (i)attractive and coloured flowers, mostly large, attracting surely animals example: Trollius, Rosa, Chamaerhodos
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Flower colour: (i)Attention: assess colour of the most colourful parts of the flower, but not of the stamens; be aware of single plants with a mutation (mostly white) on flower colour. | white (i)Most plants of the population white example: Pleurospermum, Maianthemum
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Perianth arrangement: (i)Attention: in some plants, flowers may be dimorphic in different ways (dioecious or gynodioecious). If flowers vary, record the characters of the most showy flowers. | simple, similar (i)Only one type of perianth leaves (tepals) example: Tulipa double, different (i)Two types of perianth leaves, differently coloured (sepals: outer periant leaves, usually greenish, and petals: inner perianth leaves, usually coloured) example: Parnassia
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Diameter of flower: (i)Diameter of flower or flower head. | from 5 mm to 10 mm (i) example: Stellaria
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Flower symmetry: (i)Symmetry of the perianth leaves. Attention: to assess this character, look on sepals, petals and stamens, but neglect carpels and ovary. | radiary, regular (actinomorphic) (i)More than two axis of symmetry example: Saxifraga: 5; Iris: 3
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Flower form: (i)common forms of flowers ? Veronica | simple (flat) - Do not confuse with inflorescences as in some Asteraceae (i)Petals spread out, flower appearing flat example: Mollugo, Trientalis, Pulsatilla, Saxifraga
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Sepal number: (i)Number of sepal leaves (outer perianth leaves, calyx leaves, mostly greenish). Attention, this character applies only for flowers separated in sepals and petals, thus excluding most monocots. Be aware of the bracts (involucral leaves) of Asteraceae flowerheads, do not qualify these as sepals! Be also aware in Rosaceae is often an epicalyx developed, in this case count all parts. | none or rudimentary (i)Hardly visible or absent, since perianth uniform example: All monocots with uniform perianth, many Asteraceae and Apiaceae 5 (i) example: Polemonium
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Sepal fusion: (i)To which degree are the sepal leaves connected? Attention, this character applies only for flowers separated in sepals and petals, thus excluding most monocots. Be aware of the bracts (involucral leaves) of Asteraceae flowerheads, do not qualify these as sepals! | free (i)All leaves separate from each other example: Geranium
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Petal / Tepal number: (i)Number of petal leaves (inner perianth leaves, usually coloured). | 5 (i) example: Potentilla
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Petal / Tepal fusion: (i)To which degree are the petal leaves connected? Petals sympetalous. | free (i)all petal leaves separate from each other example: Anthriscus
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Spur: (i)A hollow, slender, sac-like appendage of the perianth leaves, storing nectar. | no spur (i)Flower without appendage example: Peganum
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Stamen number: (i)Attention: We ask for the reproductive organs of the flower dispersing pollen. Count only fully fertile stamens, not staminodia (e.g. Parnassia). | 5 (i) example: Peucedanum
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Stamen fusion: (i)To which degree are the stamens fused? Attention: Whereas the pollen sacs itself are often free., their stalks (filaments) may be fused. Here, we count them as fused if they are together over at least one thirth of their length. | free (i)Stamens with separate bases example: Malus
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Pistil number: (i)Number of pistils (female floral organs: style, if developed; stigma and carpels/ovary together build the pistil). | 1 (i)One carpel, but clearly one stigma example: Pyrola, Primula, Alyssum
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Carpel number: (i)Number of carpels (carpel: forming a simple pistil or part of a compound pistil, modified leaf). | 2
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Carpel fusion: (i)To which degree are the carpels (modified leaf forming simple pistil or part of a compound pistil) fused. | fused (i)Carpels united into an ovary, only styles are free example: Malus, Berberis
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Style number: (i)Portion of the pistil connecting the stigma to the ovary. | 2
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Stigma number per style: (i)Number of stigmas per style. | 2 (i)Two stigmas, resulting from two fused carpels with or without developed style
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Ovary position: (i)For entirely or partly fused carpels, describe their position in relation to the insertion point of perianth leaves (best done by doing a longitudinal section of a flower). | inferior (i)Ovary below the point where perianth leaves are inserted, always fused to an ovary example: Vaccinum
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Sex: (i)Distribution of male and female organs among flowers, only most commonly cases. | bisexual, hermaphrodite (i)All or nearly all flowers of a plant with male and female parts example: Haplophyllum, Chenopodium unisexual (i) example: Rhodiola monoecious (i)Male and female flowers at the same plant example: Xanthium, Larix, Atriplex
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Inflorescence (i)flowering part of a plant, describes the arrangement of the flowers on the flowering axis | |
Inflorescence: (i)Structure of the inflorescence. | Flowers in inflorescence (i)No solitary flowers
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Appearance: (i)Outer look of the inflorescence. | terminal (i)Inflorescence is the highest point of the plant and may consist of a single flower only example: Cypripedium, Rhaponticum, Ligularia sibirica, Echinops
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Fruit (i)the seed bearing organ, with or without adnate parts; a ripened ovary and any other structures which are attached and ripen with it. Aggregate fruits are handled like simple fruits for determination. | |
Consistency: (i)Fleshy fruits or dry fruits, see dispersal adaptations for further classification. | dry (i)With a dry outer shell, no fleshy parts, but seed (embryo) could be edible
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Type of fruit: (i)Common fruit types (including pseudocarp). | Indehiscent fruits achene (i)A small, dry, indehiscent fruit with a single seed example: Asteraceae, Apiaceae (schizocarp), Dipsacaceae, Rosaceae, Ranunculaceae nut or nutlet (i)Dry fruit with a single, hard stone inside (and usually a large often edible embryo)
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Opening of fruit: (i)Mode of dehiscence at maturity to release seeds. | not opening / indehiscent (i)Fruits remain closed at maturity and disperse with seeds inside example: Corylus (nut), Vaccinium (berry)
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Splitting of fruit: (i)Is a solitary fruit splitting into fruitlets? The fruit splits into separate one-seeded segments at maturity (schizocarp). | splitting in 2 parts (i) example: Apiaceae
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Size of fruit: (i)Size of the fruit including appendage. | to 5 mm (i) example: Halerpestes: many folicles forming dry nutlets from 5 mm to 10 mm (i) example: Silene: small capsule opening with teeth
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Seed number: (i)Estimate the number of seeds per fruit, if recognizable seeds are in the fruit (in rare cases a fruit may contain one seeded nuts: rose hip, carex). | 2 (i)Exactly two seeds (or nutlets) example: Apiaceae
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Root / shoot below ground (i)plant part below ground (in most cases), including below ground shoots, without leaves | |
Root type: (i)Organisation of the roots. | allorhizous (i)Plant with a conspicuous tap root, one larger tap root with side roots example: Dicotyledonae inherited by order Apiales: allorhizous
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Runners: (i)Plant must be excavated; shoots, subterranean shoots connected by runners. | none (i)No runners or stolos visible example: Dactylorhiza
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Storage in below-ground structures: (i)Rhizomes or bulbs. | beet-like thickened taproot (i)The upper part of the root is clearly thicker than the shoot base example: Scorzonera bulbs with roots on lower side (i)Leaves at the base of the plant form a bulb, containing one to many leaves example: Lilium, Allium, Gagea
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