Umbelliferae
Mostly monoec. to dioec. herbs; infl. us. a compound or simple bracted umbel, sts reduced to heads. Fls regular, 5-merous; calyx adnate to ovary, lobes often obsolete; petals us. valvate and inflexed in bud; stamens alt. with petals, seated on epig. disk; anthers 2-celled, dehiscing lengthwise, us. inflexed in bud. Ovary inferior, 2-carpelled; carpels unilocular, with axile placentae. Ovules 1 per locule, pend.; styles 2, often swollen at base and forming stylopodia. Fr. a schizocarp of 2 mericarps cohering by their inner faces (commissure). Mericarps separating at commissural surface, us. remaining long suspended from the apex of a prolongation of the axis (carpophore); flattened to subterete, us. distinctly ribbed. Oil-tubes (vittae), if present, between or below the ribs. Seeds with minute embryo and cop. endosperm. Mostly biennial to perennial herbs with pith-filled furrowed stems; lvs alt., us. pinnately to palmately compound, with sheathing bases. About 130 genera and 3000 spp. of worldwide distribution.