Sison amomum L.
stone parsley
Erect biennial, with a nauseous odour when crushed. Stems solid, striate, up to 120 cm high. Basal lvs 1-pinnate, sometimes lowest leaflets again divided, petiolate; leaflets in 3-8 pairs, ovate-elliptic, lobed and serrate, c. 2-7 cm long, usually subsessile; stem lvs reduced, usually 1-2-ternate, with segments linear or narrow-ovate and lobed or serrate. Umbels 1-5 cm diam.; rays (1)-2-5-(6), slender and somewhat irregular giving a diffuse appearance to the infl.; bracts 2-3, linear to subulate; bracteoles 1-4, usually subulate, rarely linear. Fls 2-5, white or greenish white, 1-2 mm diam. Fr. broadly ovate, 2-3 mm long, dark brown with lighter ribs.
N.: common from Bay of Plenty and Waikato northwards, also collected from near Gisborne, N. Hawke's Bay, Eltham and Ashurst.
S. and S.W. Europe, Asia Minor, Algeria 1944
Waste places, pasture.
FL Oct-Feb.
Stone parsley is most easily identified by the 1-pinnate basal lvs, the diffuse irregular appearance of the flowering stems, and the distinctive odour.
