Peucedanum palustre

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Peucedanum palustre
Peucedanum palustre bluete.jpeg
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Clade: Asterids
Order: Apiales
Family: Apiaceae
Genus: Peucedanum
Species:
P. palustre
Binomial name
Peucedanum palustre
Synonyms
  • Selinum palustreL.
  • Thysselium palustre(L.) Hoffm.

Peucedanum palustre (milk-parsley [1] ) is an almost glabrous biennial plant in the family Apiaceae. It is so called in English because of the thin, foetid, milky latex found in its young parts and is native to most of Europe, extending eastwards to Central Asia. Another English common name for the plant is marsh hog's fennel (hog's fennel (unqualified) and sea hog's fennel, by contrast, are common names of Peucedanum officinale , a perennial species in the same genus, found in drier habitats, but having similar medicinal properties).

Peucedanum palustre grows (as its specific name implies) in wetlands, shallow water at the margins of rivers and estuaries and occasionally in ditches and other smaller water features. It is relatively shade-tolerant and requires seasonal submerging of the site to compete with other plants. It is well-known to lepidopterists as the main foodplant of the Old World swallowtail.

Cambridge milk parsley is the common English name of a different plant: Selinum carvifolia - also an umbellifer, but belonging to a different genus. The two plants are not only similar in appearance, but also grow in similar habitats, although they may be told apart in the following manner: P. palustre has hollow, often purplish stems, pinnatifid leaf lobes and deflexed bracteoles; while S. carvifolia has solid, greenish stems, entire or sometimes lobed leaf-lobes and erecto-patent bracteoles. Also, when the two plants are in fruit, another difference becomes apparent: the three dorsal ridges on the fruit of S. carvifolia are winged, while those on the fruit of P. palustre are not. [2]

The roots of Peucedanum palustre have been used as a substitute for ginger in Southeastern Europe and likewise in Russia. The English botanist John Lindley (under the heading Peucedanum montanum) also mentions the use of the root as an antiepileptic in the region of Courland in western Latvia (with its low-lying character, marshy coastline and numerous lakes, an area conducive to the growth of the plant). [3] [4]

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<i>Selinum carvifolia</i>

Selinum carvifolia is a flowering plant of the genus Selinum in the family Apiaceae. The specific name carvifolia signifies 'having leaves resembling those of Caraway'. It is a plant of fens and damp meadows, growing in most of Europe, with the exception of much of the Mediterranean region, eastwards to Central Asia. Its common name in English is Cambridge milk parsley, because it is confined, in the UK, to the county of Cambridgeshire and closely resembles milk parsley, an umbellifer of another genus, but found in similar habitats. The two plants are not only similar in appearance, but also grow in similar moist habitats, although they may be told apart in the following manner: P. palustre has hollow, often purplish stems, pinnatifid leaf lobes and deflexed bracteoles; while S. carvifolia has solid, greenish stems, entire or sometimes lobed leaf-lobes and erecto-patent bracteoles. Also, when the two plants are in fruit, another difference becomes apparent: the three dorsal ridges on the fruit of S. carvifolia are winged, while those on the fruit of P. palustre are not. Yet a further difference lies in the respective leaflets of the plants : those of Peucedanum palustre are blunt and pale at the tip, while those of Selinum carvifolia are sharply pointed and of a darker green. S. carvifolia used also to occur in the English counties of Nottinghamshire and Lincolnshire but is now extinct in both. Growing in only three small Cambridgeshire fens, it is one of England's rarest umbellifers. It is naturalized in the United States, where it is known by the common name little-leaf angelica.

<i>Oenanthe pimpinelloides</i> Species of flowering plant

Oenanthe pimpinelloides is a species of flowering plant in the family Apiaceae known by the common name corky-fruited water-dropwort. It is a plant of damp or dry grassland and more ruderal tall herb communities.

<i>Bartsia alpina</i> Species of flowering plants in the broomrape family Orobanchaceae

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<i>Peucedanum verticillare</i> Species of flowering plant

Peucedanum verticillare, common name giant hog fennel or milk parsley, is a herbaceous plant in the genus Peucedanum of the family Apiaceae.

<i>Peucedanum officinale</i> Species of flowering plant

Peucedanum officinale is a herbaceous perennial plant in the family Apiaceae found mainly in Central Europe and Southern Europe. It is also native to the UK, where it has the common names hog's fennel and sulphurweed, but it is a rare plant there, occurring only in certain localities in the counties of Essex and Kent. It was formerly also found near the town of Shoreham-by-Sea in the county of West Sussex, but has long been extinct there.

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<i>Peucedanum japonicum</i> Species of flowering plant

Peucedanum japonicum, also known as coastal hog fennel, is a species of Peucedanum, a genus rich in medicinal species belonging to the parsley family, Apiaceae.

Fennel is a species of plant, Foeniculum vulgare

<i>Oenanthe lachenalii</i> Species of flowering plant

Oenanthe lachenalii, parsley water-dropwort, is a flowering plant in the carrot family, which is native to Europe and parts of North Africa. It is a declining plant of coastal wetlands.

References

  1. BSBI List 2007 (xls). Botanical Society of Britain and Ireland. Archived from the original (xls) on 2015-06-26. Retrieved 2014-10-17.
  2. Umbellifers of the British Isles B.S.B.I. Handbook No.2. Tutin T.G. Pub. Botanical Society of the British Isles,London 1980.
  3. A Dictionary of Plants Used by Man Usher, George. Pub.Constable, London 1974.
  4. John Lindley (1838).Flora Medica; a botanical account of all the more important plants used in medicine,in different parts of the world.