deutsch | english

Flora Emslandia - Plants in Emsland (northwestern Germany)

Inflorescence, umbellule, fruits and leaf of the fool's parsley

 

Plants annual to biennial, herbaceous, with carrot-like, whitish taproot.

Stem erect, hollow, glabrous, slim, grooved, sometimes streaked red, at the base sometimes with reddish or bluish nuances or spotted, often highly branched. Not thickened below the nodes.

Leaves alternate, lower side shiny, triangular in outline, 2- to 3-fold pinnate, leaflets incised. Lower leaves about 8 cm long, stalked, petioles widened at the base, upper leaves sessile, not narrow thread-like.

Inflorescence: a double umbel; umbel with 5 to 12 rays, involucre missing or unifoliate.

Raylet leaves (involucel) 3–5, usually 3, linear, as long as raylets or shorter, pointed, only on the outside of the umbellules and pointing diagonally down. Umbellules with 10 to 20 flowers.

The marginal petals are slightly extended. Petals clearly notched.

The two styles are very short, flattened, bent back and tightly to the ovary.

From the inferior ovary, consisting of 2 fused carpels, develops a 2-piece schizocarp.

Fruits 3–5 mm long, ovate to round, green, later straw-colored, with brown stripes and 10 distinctly, narrowly winged, thickened ribs. Plant highly variable, very poisonous!

In Germany 2 subspecies occur:
Aethusa cynapium ssp. cynapium is not more than 80 cm high and often shows violet nuances at the base.
Aethusa cynapium ssp. elata is 140–210 cm tall and is whitish or dark reddish brown at the base.

Occurrence:
Waysides, roadsides and forest margins, gardens, wastelands. Aethusa cynapium ssp. cynapium prefers slightly warm, slightly moist and basic and nitrogenous soils. Aethusa cynapium ssp. elata prefers slightly shady, slightly warm, slightly moist, slightly alkaline and more nitrogenous soil as the first subspecies.

Distribution:
Europe, western Asia and northwest Africa.