UMBELLIFER^ 539 



arc absent. As in many umbellifers, the petals are turned 

 in at the tip. The fruit (Fig. 222) is flattened laterally, 

 broader than long, smooth or covered with protuberances. 

 The mericarps have pronounced corky ribs ; the oil tubes are 

 soHtary in the intervals, with two on the commissural side. 



Geographical. — There are about 18 species in this group, distributed chiefly 

 in the Eastern Hemisphere. There are two well-known cultivated species 

 (parsley and celery) both of which are natives of Europe, and an indigenous 

 species, Apium leplophyllum. These three species are distinguished in the 

 following key. 



Key to Principal Species of Apium 



Flowers greenish-yellow, Apium peiroselinum (common parsley). 

 Flowers white. 



Leaf segments broad, Apium graveolens (celery and celeriac). 



Leaf segments narrow, Apium leptophyllum (fine-leaved marsh parsley). 



AProM PETROSELINUM (Parsley) 



Description. — Common garden parsley is a biennial, the 

 first season throwing out a dense whorl of radical leaves that 

 are bipinnate, triangular in outline, and with the segments 

 ovate, and dentate or incised. During the second season, 

 there is sent up an erect, highly branched stem, i to 3 feet 

 high. The upper leaves are also bipinnate, but the seg- 

 ments are linear-oblong and entire. 



The inflorescence is a compound umbel with linear involu- 

 cral bracts and awl-shaped involucellate bractlets. The 

 flowers are greenish-yellow. The fruit is ovate, smooth, and 

 with pronounced ribs. 



When large parsley seed is used the plants from them have 

 larger and earlier fohage and are more capable of renewing the 

 tops after being cut back than plants from small seed. 



Varieties. — As to leaf characters, there are two types of 

 parsley : 



