Umbellifer Family:-

"Most umbellifers are easily known by their flowers being arranged in an umbrella-shaped umbel. In a few, such as Sea Holly, the spokes of the umbrella are so short as to conceal the basic design, but in a typical species, such as Cow Parsley, the spokes ('rays') of the umbel terminate in secondary umbels, which consist of a number of small 5-petalled flowers arranged in a similar umbrella-shape, usually with a flattish top. The tops of the secondary umbels make up the top of the whole umbrella. Unless otherwise stated there are small green bracts at the base of both the main umbels (lower bracts) and the secondary umbels (upper bracts).

Many white-flowered umbellifers can also be found tinged pink. Many species vary in the hollowness of their stems, from top to bottom and between young and old plants. Many have finely divided, twice or thrice pinnate leaves that can be mistaken for ferns. The shape of the fruits is always a great help in identifying these apparaently tediously similar plants; these are below the petals and consist of 2 or more less closely joined 1-seeded portions, which separate when ripe". from Collins Pocket Guide to Wild Flowers by David McClintock and R.S.R. Fitter assisted by Francis Rose - ISBN 0 00 219363 9 - Eleventh Impression 1978.

Umbellifer Family plant table with its Common Name - Botanical Name. Flowering Months Range. Habitat with link to that Umbellifer to Violet Wild Flower Families Gallery:-

Common Name

Botanical Name

Flowering Months

Habitat

Pink Masterwort

(Great Masterwort)

Astrantia major

June-August

A long-lived perennial herb occurring on waste ground as an escape from cultivation or as an introduction in partially shaded habitats, most often near habitation. Lowland.

Flower in July

Flowers in July

Foliage

Form

River Water Dropwort

Oenanthe fluviatilis

June-September

An aquatic perennial herb, most frequent in clear, meso-eutrophic water of calcareous streams and rivers; also found in canals and ditches, but rarely in ponds. In flowing water, propagation is usually by plants rooting at nodes, or by vegetative fragmentation. Flowering is more frequent in still or sluggish water, but the frequency of reproduction from seed is unknown. Lowland.

Rock Samphire

Crithmum maritimum

July-September

A fleshy perennial herb of spray-drenched rock crevices and ledges on sea-cliffs, coastal rocks and on stabilised shingle; also in maritime grassland and artificial habitats like harbour walls and stone sea defences. It appears indifferent to soil reaction, being found on many rock types from chalk and limestone to granite. Lowland.

Flower from Portland on 11 August

Flowers from Portland on 11 August

Foliage from Pennard Gower on 12 July

Form from Pennard Gower on 12 July

Form from Isle of Wight. Photo from BritishFlora

Flowers from Isle of Wight. Photo from BritishFlora

Rough Chervil

Chaerophyllum temulentum

(Chaerophyllum temulum)

June-July

A biennial herb, especially characteristic of rank grassland on roadside verges, by hedges and along wood-borders and forest rides; also found on railway banks and in waste places. It tolerates light shade, but rarely occurs on damp and acidic soils. Reproduction is by seed. 0-365 m (Derbys. and Mid-West Yorkshire).

Sanicle

Sanicula europaea

May-July

A perennial herb of moist soil in deciduous woodland, often where Fagus, Fraxinus or Quercus spp. predominate; also locally in substantial hedge banks and shaded roadsides. In the north and west of its range it is sometimes found in relict woodland in gorges and in sheltered stream ravines. The substrate is usually calcareous or otherwise base-rich, but can occasionally be neutral or mildly acidic. Generally lowland, but reaching 500 m above Malham (Mid-West Yorkshire).

Flower in June

Flowers in June

Foliage from Wood in North Yorkshire in June

Form from Halling in June

Sea Carrot

Daucus carota subsp. Gummifer

June-September

This biennial herb is entirely coastal, occurring in both open and closed grassland on cliffs and on stable sand dunes. Lowland.

Foliage from Isle of Wight. Photo from BritishFlora

Form from Isle of Wight. Photo from BritishFlora

Flower from Isle of Wight. Photo from BritishFlora

Form from Isle of Wight. Photo from BritishFlora

Sea Holly

Eryngium maritimum

July-August

A glaucous, spiny perennial herb confined to coasts, occurring mainly on incipient and mobile sand dunes and occasionally on shingle. Lowland.

Flower from Chesil Beach on 11 August

Flower from Sandwich in July

Foliage from Chesil Beach on 11 August

Form from Sandwich in July

Form from Devon. Photo from BritishFlora

Flowers from Devon. Photo from BritishFlora

Shepherd's Needle

Scandix pecten-veneris

April onwards

An annual of arable fields, particularly on calcareous clay soils; occasionally on paths and banks beside current or former arable sites, and rarely on waste ground, coastal cliffs, and in gardens. Generally lowland, reaching 320 m in Teesdale (Co. Durham).

Flower in July

Flowers

Foliage in July

Form in July

Sickle Hare's-Ear

Bupleurum falcatum

July-September

This biennial or short-lived perennial herb has been recorded in hedge banks and field-borders, on ditch banks and on roadside verges, but only recently in the latter habitat. Plants reproduce by seed, which appears to remain viable for only one year. Lowland.

Flower

Flowers from Urach on 21 July

Foliage

Form

Slender Hare's-Ear

(Smallest Hares Ear)

Bupleurum tenuissimum

August-September

This slender, often diminutive, annual is primarily a colonist of thinly vegetated or disturbed coastal sites, including coastal banks, sea walls, drained estuarine marshes and the margins of brackish ditches. Inland populations formerly grew on commons and roadsides; it still grows on commons near Malvern (Worcs.). Lowland.

Flower from Nagden Marshes in August

Flowers from Nagden Marshes on 20 September

Foliage

Form

Spignel-Meu

Meum athamanticum

May-June

A perennial herb of deep brown-earth neutral or mildly acidic soils occurring in dry, unimproved grassland in pastures, hay meadows and on roadside-banks. Mostly found below 300 m, though there are populations at 610 m at White Coombe (Dumfriess.) and Fealar (E. Perth).

Spreading Bur Parsley

(Spreading Hedge Parsley)

Torilis arvensis

July onwards

An annual, rarely biennial, herb, almost exclusively found on arable land in autumn-sown cereals, but sometimes in other arable crops; also on waste and disturbed ground. It is perhaps most frequent on calcareous clays, but is found on a wide range of soils, including sands and gravels. Lowland.

Stone Parsley

Sison amomum

July-August

A biennial herb of sticky clay and better drained neutral to calcareous soils, found mainly in hedgerows, on banks, rough scrubby grassland, waysides and disturbed waste ground. Lowland.

Foliage from Isle of Wight. Photo from BritishFlora

Flowers from Isle of Wight. Photo from BritishFlora

Sulphurwort

(Narrow-leaf Water-Dropwort)

Oenanthe silaifolia

June-July

This perennial herb is found in damp grassland which receives calcareous flood-water in winter. It normally grows in hay meadows and may occur abundantly in lammas meadows, but only as depauperate individuals in more intensively farmed land. It also occurs on damp streamsides. Lowland.

Sweet Cicely

(Great Sweet Chervil)

Myrrhis odorata

May-June

A perennial herb of hedge banks, woodland margins, roadside verges, river banks and other grassy places. Many sites are near houses or old settlements, indicating its origin in cultivation, but it is also often found in places remote from habitation. Generally lowland, but reaching 500 m in E. Allendale (S. Northumb.).

Flower

Flowers from North Yorkshire in June

Foliage from Millers Dale on 21 May

Form from Moor Cock in Yorkshire in June

Thorow-Wax

Bupleurum rotundifolium

July-August

This annual was formerly an arable weed of chalk and limestone soils, but it is now a rare bird-seed casual. Lowland.

Flower from Tonbridge in Kent on 11 July

Flowers in May

Foliage in May

Form

Tubular Water Dropwort

Oenanthe fistulosa

July-September

A perennial herb of damp or wet habitats, usually in areas of winter flooding. It occurs in meadows and pastures in the flood plains of rivers, in marshes and fens, and in emergent and fringing vegetation by rivers, streams, canals, ditches, lakes and ponds. It reproduces by seed, and spreads by stolons. In heavily grazed swards seed is produced virtually at ground level from secondary growth. Lowland.

Flower from Kenfig Burrows on 9 July

Flowers from Kenfig Burrows on 9 July

Foliage from Kenfig Burrows on 9 July

Form from Kenfig Burrows on 9 July

Foliage from Buckinghamshire. Photo from BritishFlora

Form from Buckinghamshire. Photo from BritishFlora

Form from Buckinghamshire. Photo from BritishFlora

Flowers from Buckinghamshire. Photo from BritishFlora

Watling Street Thistle

(Field Thistle, Field Enryngo)

Eryngium campestre

July-August

A perennial herb of well-drained neutral or calcareous soils in old pastures and coastal grassland in S.W. England, where it is very long-established and was once considered to be native. Elsewhere, short-lived or casual populations have been reported from pastures, roadsides and rough ground. Lowland.

Flower on 22 August

Flowers on 21 July

Foliage

Form

Whorled Caraway

Carum verticillatum

July-August

A perennial, calcifuge herb of marshes, streamsides, damp meadows, rushy pastures and on wet hillsides with a pronounced soligenous influence. 0-425 m (Llyn Berwyn, Cards.) and 440 m in S. Kerry.

Wild Angelica

Angelica sylvestris

July-September

A perennial herb, occurring on base-enriched soils in a wide variety of habitats, including damp woods and carr, damp neutral grassland, marshes, mires, swamps and tall-herb fens, sea-cliffs, ungrazed montane grassland and mountain ledges. Reproduction is by seed. 0-855 m (Helvellyn, Cumberland).

Flower from Inchnadamph in Sutherland on 30 July

Flowers from Inchnadamph in Sutherland on 30 July

Foliage

Form

Wild Carrot

Daucus carota

June onwards

A biennial herb of fairly infertile, well-drained, often calcareous, soils. Habitats include disturbed or open turf on chalk downs, rough grassland on roadsides, waysides and railway banks, quarries, chalk- and gravel-pits, and waste ground. 0?400 m (Connor Hill, S. Kerry).

Flower from Borstal in Kent

Juvenile Seedhead in August

Foliage in August

Form in August

Flower in Buckinghamshire. Photo from BritishFlora

Juvenile Seedhead in Buckinghamshire. Photo from BritishFlora

Form in Buckinghamshire. Photo from BritishFlora

Seeds in Buckinghamshire. Photo from BritishFlora

Wild Celery

Apium graveolens

June-August

A biennial or monocarpic perennial herb found on sea-walls, beside brackish ditches, on tidal river banks and drift lines, and the uppermost parts of saltmarshes. Inland it occurs on disturbed ground in marshes, by ponds and ditches and occasionally in gravel-pits. Lowland.

Wild Parsnip

(Parsnip)

Pastinaca sativa

July-September

This biennial herb occurs in neutral and calcareous grassland, especially in chalk and limestone districts. It is found in rank swards on downland, on roadsides, railway banks, and rough and uncultivated land. 0-380 m (Stainmore, Westmorland).