Flora of New Zealand Series

beaked parsley

Erect annual. Stems ± glabrous, hollow, striate, 15-70 cm high, sometimes tinged purple toward base. Basal lvs moderately to densely hairy below and on petiole, glabrous above, 2-3-pinnate; ultimate segments ovate, pinnatisect, 5-20 mm long, sessile or shortly petiolate; stem lvs similar to basal but reduced, 1-3-pinnate and shortly petiolate. Umbels 2-5 cm diam.; rays 2-5, c. 1-2 cm long; bracts 0-1, linear to triangular; bracteoles 3-5, ovate-acuminate. Fls 2-6, white, 1-2 mm diam. Fr. ovoid, c. 3 mm long, covered with curved spines and tapering to a smooth beak c. 1/4-⅓ length of ovuliferous part; base of fr. at pedicel apex with a ring of hairs.

N.: Wellington Province; S.: Nelson, Marlborough, Canterbury, Otago - locally common; St.: Ruapuke Id.

Europe, Asia Minor, Caucasia, Siberia, N.W. Africa 1922

Waste places, pasture, forest margins, often in shade.

FL Sep-Jan.

A. caucalis is a delicate, soft herb distinguished from all other N.Z. Apiaceae by the ring of hairs at the base of the ovary and fr. (Fig. 10); this ring of hairs and the short beak distinguish it from naturalised Torilis spp. which also have spinous frs. The herb chervil, A. cerefolium, is cultivated in N.Z. and although it has been reported as naturalised the record is unsubstantiated. Beaked parsley has sometimes been recorded in N.Z. as A. vulgaris and A. neglecta.

Fig. 10. Immature frs of Apiaceae. A Anthriscus caucalis; B Torilis japonica. © All rights reserved. [Image: 4X3C]