Smyrnium perfoliatum (L)
NOMENCLATURE
Smyrnium : from Greek : _________ from : myrrh (aroma).
perfoliatum : perforated (leaves).
BOTANICAL DESCRIPTION
TYPE : glabrous biennial. Hs.
ROOT: tuberous tap rot, resembling small turnip. Seedling has tuberous hypocotyl.
STEMS: solid, angled. narrowly winged on angles.. esp. near middle. Wings with
sparse, small stellate hairs. HEIGHT : 40—150 cm.
UMBELS: compound. 5—10 glabrous rays, papillose near apex, 1—4 cm. Peduncle
> or < than rays, winged on angles. Terminal hermph. Lateral male.
LEAVES: basal 2—3 pinnate or ternate, segments ovate, dentate, or lobed.
Cauline 3-10cm, simple, ovate, amplexicaul, crenate—serrate, entire, alternate.
Cotyledons contracted into a petiole.
FLOWERS: yellow. Sepals small, accrescent in fruit. Styles form a stylopodium. Fl. 5.
FRUIT: 3x5mm, brown—black, laterally compressed. Commisure constricted. Mericarps with
3 slender dorsal ridges. Carpophore present. Vittae numer ous, slender. Styles > than
stylopodiurn, recurved & appressed in fruit. Stigma capitate. 2n=22.
DISTRIBUTION: intro, cultivated as ornament. Persists as weed in flower beds in S. Shields,
Chelsea. Long grass of Queens cottage grounds, Kew. Cambridge University Botanic garden.
Native t.o S. Europe, N. to E. Czechoslovakia. S.W.Asia, N Africa.
