''Ammi majus'', commonly called bishop's flower, false bishop's weed, laceflower, bullwort, etc., is a member of the carrot family

Apiaceae 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, or simply as umbellifers. It is the 16th-largest family of flowering p ...

. The plant, which has white lace-like flower clusters, has a large distribution through

Southern Europe Southern Europe is also known as Mediterranean Europe, as its geography is marked by the Mediterranean Sea. Definitions of southern Europe include some or all of these countries and regions: Albania, Andorra, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, C ...

North Africa North Africa (sometimes Northern Africa) is a region encompassing the northern portion of the African continent. There is no singularly accepted scope for the region. However, it is sometimes defined as stretching from the Atlantic shores of t ...

and

West West is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from east and is the direction in which the Sun sets on the Earth. Etymology The word "west" is a Germanic word passed into some Romance langu ...

and Central Asia, though it is hypothesized to be native to the

Nile River The Nile (also known as the Nile River or River Nile) is a major north-flowing river in northeastern Africa. It flows into the Mediterranean Sea. The Nile is the longest river in Africa. It has historically been considered the longest river i ...

Valley.

Nomenclature

The plant is called by various

common names In biology, a common name of a taxon or organism (also known as a vernacular name, English name, colloquial name, country name, popular name, or farmer's name) is a name that is based on the normal language of everyday life; and is often contras ...

: bishop's flower or bishop's weed (false bishop's weed); laceflower, lady's lace or false Queen Anne's lace; bullwort (large bullwort); white dill and greater ammi. It is known in Arabic as ''hirz al-shayateen'' () or ''khella/khilla shaitani'' (), meaning, respectively, ‘Devil’s Amulet/Refuge’ and ‘Devil’s Toothpick-weed. The plant has also been introduced into China, where it is called ''da a min qin'' ( zh, 大阿米芹) and cultivated in medicinal farms.

Description

''Ammi majus'' is a

herbaceous Herbaceous plants are vascular plants that have no persistent woody stems above ground. This broad category of plants includes many perennials, and nearly all annuals and biennials. Definitions of "herb" and "herbaceous" The fourth edition of ...

annual, or rather a biennial that behaves like an annual in cultivation. The lower leaves are 1-2-pinnate, upper leaves 2(-3)-pinnate with serrate lobes. The inflorescence is compound

umbel UMBEL (Upper Mapping and Binding Exchange Layer) is a logically organized knowledge graph of 34,000 concepts and entity types that can be used in information science for relating information from disparate sources to one another. It was retired ...

; they are white umbrella-shaped flowers like those of Queen Anne's lace, blooming June–July and fruiting July–August.

Distribution

Considered indigenous to Egypt, or parts of Europe and the Middle East/West Asia. It is also found scattered in the British Isles, in North and Central Scotland, widely distributed in the Mediterranean region (including Southern Europe and North Africa), as well as West Africa and

Abyssinia Abyssinia (; also known as Abyssinie, Abissinia, Habessinien, or Al-Habash) was an ancient region in the Horn of Africa situated in the northern highlands of modern-day Ethiopia and Eritrea.Sven Rubenson, The survival of Ethiopian independence, ...

Uses

In Egypt around 2000 BC, the juice of ''Ammi majus'' was rubbed on patches of

vitiligo Vitiligo (, ) is a chronic autoimmune disorder that causes patches of skin to lose pigment or color. The cause of vitiligo is unknown, but it may be related to immune system changes, genetic factors, stress, or sun exposure, and susceptibili ...

after which patients were encouraged to lie in the sun. In the 13th century, vitiligo was treated with a tincture of honey and the powdered seeds of a plant called "aatrillal," which was abundant in the Nile River Valley. The plant has since been identified as ''A. majus'', but the trade name Aatrillal is still used today to refer to the yellowish-brown powder made from its seeds. ''Ammi majus'' contains significant amounts of

furanocoumarins The furanocoumarins, or furocoumarins, are a class of organic chemical compounds produced by a variety of plants. Most of the plant species found to contain furanocoumarins belong to a handful of plant families. The families Apiaceae and Rutacea ...

bergapten Bergapten (5-methoxypsoralen) is a naturally-occurring organic chemical compound produced by numerous plant species, especially from the carrot family Apiaceae and the citrus family Rutaceae. For example, bergapten has been extracted from 24 ...

and xanthotoxin (also known as

methoxsalen Methoxsalen (or Xanthotoxin, 8-methoxypsoralen) sold under the brand name Oxsoralen among others, is a medication used to treat psoriasis, eczema, vitiligo, and some lymphoma, cutaneous lymphomas in conjunction with exposing the skin to ultraviol ...

), two

psoralen Psoralen (also called psoralene) is the parent compound in a family of naturally occurring organic compounds known as the linear furanocoumarins. It is structurally related to coumarin by the addition of a fused furan ring, and may be considered a ...

derivatives well known for their photosensitizing effects. Indeed, ''A. majus'' may well be the world's major source of methoxsalen. The practice of using ''Ammi majus'' to treat vitiligo implicitly acknowledges the

hyperpigmentation Hyperpigmentation, also known as the dark spots or circles on the skin, is the darkening of an area of Human skin, skin or nail (anatomy), nails caused by increased melanin. Causes Hyperpigmentation can be caused by sun damage, inflammation, or ...

effects caused by exposure to a photosensitizing agent (such as methoxsalen) followed by ultraviolet radiation. An excess of either the photosensitizing agent or subsequent UV exposure can lead to

phytophotodermatitis Phytophotodermatitis, also known as berloque dermatitis,, margarita photodermatitis,, lime disease or lime phytodermatitis is a cutaneous phototoxic inflammatory reaction resulting from contact with a light-sensitizing botanical agent (such as ...

, a serious skin inflammation. Despite this danger, ''A. majus'' is cultivated for its furanocoumarins, which are still used for the treatment of skin disease, particularly the furanocoumarin xanthotoxin also known as "ammoidin" and by the brand name "Oxsoralen".

Cultivation

Like its close relative '' Ammi visnaga'', ''A. majus'' and its

cultivar A cultivar is a kind of Horticulture, cultivated plant that people have selected for desired phenotypic trait, traits and which retains those traits when Plant propagation, propagated. Methods used to propagate cultivars include division, root a ...

s are frequently seen in gardens where they are grown from seed annually. The species and the cultivar 'Graceland' have both gained the

Royal Horticultural Society The Royal Horticultural Society (RHS), founded in 1804 as the Horticultural Society of London, is the UK's leading gardening charity. The RHS promotes horticulture through its five gardens at Wisley (Surrey), Hyde Hall (Essex), Harlow Carr ...

Award of Garden Merit The Award of Garden Merit (AGM) is a long-established award for plants by the British Royal Horticultural Society (RHS). It is based on assessment of the plants' performance under UK growing conditions. It includes the full range of cultivated p ...

. File:Ammi majus flowerhead1 NWS (15367278999).jpg File:Ammi majus leaf1 NWS (14933146884).jpg File:Neuchâtel Herbarium - Ammi majus - NEU000005508.jpg

Explanatory notes

References

;Citations ;Bibliography

External links

* {{Taxonbar, from=Q133477 Flora of Lebanon Medicinal plants of Africa Plants described in 1753 Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus Flora of Western Asia Flora of North Africa Flora of Europe Flora of Egypt Apioideae Taxobox binomials not recognized by IUCN