''Selinum carvifolia'' is a

flowering plant Flowering plants are plants that bear flowers and fruits, and form the clade Angiospermae (). The term angiosperm is derived from the Ancient Greek, Greek words (; 'container, vessel') and (; 'seed'), meaning that the seeds are enclosed with ...

of the genus '' Selinum'' in the 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 specific name ''carvifolia'' signifies 'having leaves resembling those of

Caraway Caraway, also known as meridian fennel and Persian cumin (''Carum carvi''), is a biennial plant in the family Apiaceae, native to western Asia, Europe, and North Africa. Etymology The etymology of "caraway" is unclear. Caraway has been ...

'. It is a plant of

fen A fen is a type of peat-accumulating wetland fed by mineral-rich ground or surface water. It is one of the main types of wetland along with marshes, swamps, and bogs. Bogs and fens, both peat-forming ecosystems, are also known as mires ...

s and damp

meadows A meadow ( ) is an open habitat or field, vegetated by grasses, herbs, and other non-woody plants. Trees or shrubs may sparsely populate meadows, as long as they maintain an open character. Meadows can occur naturally under favourable condition ...

, growing in most of

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

, with the exception of much of the Mediterranean region, eastwards to

Central Asia Central Asia is a region of Asia consisting of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan. The countries as a group are also colloquially referred to as the "-stans" as all have names ending with the Persian language, Pers ...

. Its common name in English is Cambridge milk parsley, because it is confined, in the UK, to the county of

Cambridgeshire Cambridgeshire (abbreviated Cambs.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East of England and East Anglia. It is bordered by Lincolnshire to the north, Norfolk to the north-east, Suffolk to the east, Essex and Hertfor ...

and closely resembles milk parsley ('' Peucedanum palustre''), an

umbellifer 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 ...

of another

genus Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family (taxonomy), family as used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In bino ...

, but found in similar habitats. The two plants are not only similar in appearance, but also grow in similar moist habitats, although they may be told apart in the following manner: ''P. palustre'' has hollow, often purplish stems, pinnatifid leaf lobes and deflexed bracteoles; while ''S. carvifolia'' has solid, greenish stems, entire or sometimes lobed leaf-lobes and erecto-patent bracteoles. Also, when the two plants are in fruit, another difference becomes apparent: the three dorsal ridges on the fruit of ''S. carvifolia'' are winged, while those on the fruit of ''P. palustre'' are not. Yet a further difference lies in the respective leaflets of the plants : those of ''Peucedanum palustre'' are blunt and pale at the tip, while those of ''Selinum carvifolia'' are sharply pointed and of a darker green. ''S. carvifolia'' used also to occur in the English counties of

Nottinghamshire Nottinghamshire (; abbreviated ''Notts.'') is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands of England. The county is bordered by South Yorkshire to the north-west, Lincolnshire to the east, Leicestershire to the south, and Derbyshire to the west. Th ...

and

Lincolnshire Lincolnshire (), abbreviated ''Lincs'', is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East Midlands and Yorkshire and the Humber regions of England. It is bordered by the East Riding of Yorkshire across the Humber estuary to th ...

but is now extinct in both. Growing in only three small Cambridgeshire fens, it is one of England's rarest

s. It is naturalized in the United States, where it is known by the common name little-leaf angelica.

Taxonomy

The species was first described by

Carl Linnaeus Carl Linnaeus (23 May 1707 – 10 January 1778), also known after ennoblement in 1761 as Carl von Linné,#Blunt, Blunt (2004), p. 171. was a Swedish biologist and physician who formalised binomial nomenclature, the modern system of naming o ...

in 1753 as ''Seseli carvifolia''. In 1762, he transferred it to the genus ''Selinum'' as ''Selinum carvifolia''. Linnaeus capitalized the epithet, implying it was meant as a noun in apposition rather than an adjective.

Distribution and habitat

''Selinum carvifolia'' is native to Europe and eastwards to West Siberia and Kazakhstan. In the UK, this lowland, perennial herb occurs in fens, damp meadows and rough-grazed marshy pasture on

calcareous Calcareous () is an adjective meaning "mostly or partly composed of calcium carbonate", in other words, containing lime (mineral), lime or being chalky. The term is used in a wide variety of Science, scientific disciplines. In zoology ''Calcare ...

peaty soils or fen peat overlying chalk. It does not, however, grow on the wettest ground in fens, preferring slightly better-drained fringe areas and low banks. In continental Europe, by contrast, it has been recorded in a much wider range of habitats, including oakwoods in Poland, and, curiouser still, hot dry limestone in Bosnia and Croatia.

Chemistry

''Selinum carvifolia'' has been found to contain a

guaiene Guaienes are a series of closely related natural chemical compounds that have been isolated from a variety of plant sources. The guaienes are sesquiterpenes with the molecular formula C15H24. α-Guaiene is the most common and was first isolated ...

, certain trimethylbenzaldehydes (see also pages

aldehyde In organic chemistry, an aldehyde () (lat. ''al''cohol ''dehyd''rogenatum, dehydrogenated alcohol) is an organic compound containing a functional group with the structure . The functional group itself (without the "R" side chain) can be referred ...

and

benzaldehyde Benzaldehyde (C6H5CHO) is an organic compound consisting of a benzene ring with a formyl substituent. It is among the simplest aromatic aldehydes and one of the most industrially useful. It is a colorless liquid with a characteristic almond-li ...

) and minor amounts of other derivatives of the

terpenoid The terpenoids, also known as isoprenoids, are a class of naturally occurring organic compound, organic chemicals derived from the 5-carbon compound isoprene and its derivatives called terpenes, diterpenes, etc. While sometimes used interchangeabl ...

(

sesquiterpene Sesquiterpenes are a class of terpenes that consist of three isoprene units and often have the molecular formula C15H24. Like monoterpenes, sesquiterpenes may be cyclic or contain rings, including many combinations. Biochemical modifications s ...

coumarin Coumarin () or 2''H''-chromen-2-one is an aromatic organic chemical compound with formula . Its molecule can be described as a benzene molecule with two adjacent hydrogen atoms replaced by an unsaturated lactone ring , forming a second six-me ...

) ferulol. The main constituents of the closely related species ''S. broteri'' of

Brittany Brittany ( ) is a peninsula, historical country and cultural area in the north-west of modern France, covering the western part of what was known as Armorica in Roman Gaul. It became an Kingdom of Brittany, independent kingdom and then a Duch ...

(regarded by some botanists as a subspecies of ''S. carvifolia'') are ferulyl senecioate, isoferulyl senecioate and ferulyl acetoxysenecioate. Trimethylbenzaldehydes occur not only in plants belonging to the Apiaceae, but also in certain members of the

Iridaceae Iridaceae () is a family of plants in order Asparagales, taking its name from the Iris (plant), irises. It has a nearly global distribution, with 69 accepted genera with a total of about 2500 species. It includes a number of economically importan ...

: 2,4,6-Trimethylbenzaldehyde occurs in a variety of herbs and spices including Culantro (the leaves of the apiaceous ''

Eryngium foetidum ''Eryngium foetidum'' is a tropical perennial herb in the family Apiaceae. Common names include culantro (Costa Rica and Panama) ( or ), cimarrón, recao (Puerto Rico), chardon béni (France), Mexican coriander, samat, bandhaniya, long coriand ...

'') and in Saffron (derived from the iridaceous ''

Crocus sativus ''Crocus sativus'', commonly known as saffron crocus or autumn crocus, is a species of flowering plant in the iris family (biology), family Iridaceae. A cormous autumn-flowering cultivated perennial plant, perennial, unknown in the wild, it is ...

''). The compound ferulol was first isolated from (and thus named for) the apiaceous genus ''

Ferula ''Ferula'' (from Latin ''ferula'' ) is a genus of about 220 species of flowering plants in the family Apiaceae, native to the Mediterranean region east to central Asia, mostly growing in arid climates. Many plants of this genus, especially '' F ...

'' in the year 2006 - the species in question being the

Palestinian Palestinians () are an Arab ethnonational group native to the Levantine region of Palestine. *: "Palestine was part of the first wave of conquest following Muhammad's death in 632 CE; Jerusalem fell to the Caliph Umar in 638. The indigenous p ...

''F. sinaica''.

Edibility/toxicity

As its common name in English suggests, ''Selinum carvifolia'' has a somewhat

parsley Parsley, or garden parsley (''Petroselinum crispum''), is a species of flowering plant in the family Apiaceae that is native to Greece, Morocco and the former Yugoslavia. It has been introduced and naturalisation (biology), naturalized in Eur ...

-like scent if crushed, although unlike Caraway (from which its specific name derives) it is not a highly aromatic Umbellifer. Records of its having been used as a food, seasoning or medicinal plant are hard to come by, but neither is it listed as a poisonous plant.Cooper, Marion R. and Johnson, Anthony W. ''Poisonous Plants in Britain and their effects on Animals and Man'' Ministry of Agriculture Fisheries and Food, Reference Book 161 (replacing Bulletin 161), pub. London U.K. : HMSO 1984

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q1797041 Apioideae Plants described in 1753 Flora of Europe Flora of West Siberia Flora of Kazakhstan