Molopospermum

''Molopospermum'' is a monotypic genus of flowering plants belonging to the family Apiaceae. The single species, ''Molopospermum peleponnesiacum'', Spanish: cuscullo, French couscouil and Rousillonais Catalan coscoll
is native to the mountains of Spain, southern France and Italy (notably the Pyrenees and the Alps) and is edible, being used in ways similar to its better-known fellow umbellifers celery and angelica and also believed to have tonic properties.

Taxonomy

The genus name is a combination of the Greek elements μώλωψ, genitive μώλωπος (''môlôps'', môlôpos) "bruise" and σπέρμα (''sperma'') "seed" yielding the meaning of "bruised-seed" - in reference not, as might be assumed, to the fruits being used to treat bruises, but to the long, deep grooves in the fruits resembling bruises - i.e. dents or furrows.
The specific name ''peleponnesiacum'' is likewise misleading, appearing to suggest that the plant hails from the Peloponnese peninsula of southern Greece, which is not the case: the geographical epithet 'peleponnesiacum' was applied to the plant in error by the founding father of modern botany Linnaeus, who mistakenly believed the plant to be native to Greece. Linnaeus's error was noted by both Lamarck and de Candolle, who were unable to find the plant in Greece, but, despite the condemnation of these and subsequent botanists, the name has stuck, never having been replaced by a more appropriate one.

Affiliation within Apiaceae

''Molopospermum'' is currently placed in tribe Annesorhizeae of subfamily Apioideae of the family Apiaceae (see List of Apiaceae genera) which currently contains the following six genera:

* '' Annesorhiza'' Cham. & Schltdl, endemic to southern Africa.
* ''Astydamia'' DC., endemic to Northwest Africa.
* '' Chamarea'' Eckl. & Zeyh., southern Africa.
* '' Ezosciadium'' B.L.Burtt, South African Republic.
* ''Itasina'' Raf., South African Republic.
* ''Molopospermum'' W.D.J.Koch

Subject to the proviso that the subfamilial and tribal classification for the family Apiaceae is currently in a state of some disarray (many of the groups being grossly paraphyletic or polyphyletic)Stevens, P.F. (2001 onwards)
Angiosperm Phylogeny Website
Version 9, June 2008. it is still interesting to note some themes that emerge in the properties of the genera assigned to Annesorhizeae.
The genus Annesorhiza, endemic to southern Africa, is of particular relevance in this context, various species being noted for their aromatic compound content and traditional culinary usage, with certain species being notable for containing allylbenzene derivatives such as nothoapiole.

Etymology of common names

The Spanish, Catalan and French names derive from the Latin ''cuscolium'', a curious word of uncertain origin and uncertain original meaning. The cluster of meanings which scholars have invoked in trying to tease out its etymology involve the 1.) the berry-like kermes insect parasitic upon the kermes oak, yielding an ancient crimson dye 2.) oak and beech trees in general 3.) the herb Molopospermum and 4.) dry vegetable rubbish of various kinds, encompassing the concepts of "odds and ends", "leftovers" and "kindling". The word may be ultimately of Aquitanian (precursor of the non-Indo-European Basque) or Berber origin
ote: re. suitability for kindling of dried remains of previous year's growth of Molopospermum, see Gallery I image of Spring shoots emerging from these "leftovers"
The Italian common name for the plant - ''cicutaria fetida'' ("stinking hemlock") is more recent, deriving from an earlier botanical name.

The Slovenian vernacular name ''progasti kobul'' means "striped umbel" i.e. "umbel-bearing plant with a striped stalk", the Slovenian word for the family Apiaceae as a whole (formerly known as Umbelliferae), being ''kobulnice''.

Description

''Molopospermum peleponnesiacum'' is a rather stout and strongly aromatic perennial umbellifer, attaining 100–150 cm in height and forming a mound of glossy, intricately divided and rather jaggedly cut foliage, above which are borne, in late Spring, umbels of flowers which are initially yellow in colour, turning gradually to cream, followed by brown, deeply ribbed, paired fruits (mericarps) resembling seeds. The foliage, while attractive, is rather short-lived, beginning to die down in late summer.https://www.plantstoplant.com/molopospermum-peloponnesiacum-c2x25920836#.YSDcdS14VvJ Retrieved at 12.01 pm on Saturday 21/8/21

Ornamental

Like a number of other robust umbellifers, the species is sometimes grown as an 'architectural plant', its shiny, fern-like foliage and attractive umbels of flowers lending an interesting textural element to the herbaceous border in early summer.

Cultivation

''Molopospermum peleponnesiacum'' thrives best in part shade in a well-drained but moisture-retentive soil with a pH preferably neutral to acid.

Culinary herb and salad vegetable

In Roussillon the young etiolated ( blanched) shoots, known under the name of ''couscouils'' are gathered and eaten in salads, somewhat in the manner of celery

Augustin Pyramus de Candolle
''Flore française''
1815 (Translation)

It is eaten raw, in salad, being much sought after, despite its unique smell, which resembles that of a shield bug (French: ''punaise''): commonly ut incorrectlyknown as ''wild Angelica'' and in Catalan as ''coscoll''.

Louis Companyo
''Itinéraire...des Pyrénées-Orientales...''
1845 (Translation)

The plant is edible: the young leaves and stems being used in the preparation of liqueurs or eaten fresh in salads in the Eastern Pyrenees.
The parts of the plant most commonly eaten are the young petioles (leaf stalks), these being consumed in several different ways: most commonly in salads after being peeled and split into four, the four sections then being soaked in cool water prior to serving. These leaf stalks can also be macerated for a few days in alcohol, along with various other aromatics to make home-made herbal liqueurs of the Ratafia type - based usually, in the case of those prepared in the comarca of Alt Empordà, upon an alcoholic infusion of green walnuts. They were formerly also used in jam-making ecalling both the use of rhubarb petioles to make jam and the candying of Angelica stalks">rhubarb.html" ;"title="ecalling both the use of rhubarb">ecalling both the use of rhubarb petioles to make jam and the candying of Angelica stalksbut this culinary practice appears largely to have died out.Myriam Pied, ''Le Coscoll, la plante sauvage comestible des catalans'', editor Alain Pottier, (ill. Paul Schramm, photogr. Michel Castillo), ''À la conquête des plantes à parfum, aromatiques et médicinales du Roussillon'', Canet-en-Roussillon, Éditions Trabucaire, 2017, p.189

In the light of the peeling, blanching and soaking traditionally employed to render young Molopospermum shoots edible, it is unclear just how palatable and, indeed, how innocuous more mature plant parts might be: the observations made in the year 1842 by a certain Dr. Irving on the effects upon plants of Blanching (horticulture)">blanching