Apiaceae

(=Umbelliferae)

Umbellifers

From Streeter et al., 2016, 'Family Key':

"Flowers small, white or yellow; inflorescence an umbel; 5 sepals; 5 petals; 5 stamens; ovary inferior"

For the specimen(s) below, hover over image in gallery for description and select for a full screen preview.

ID: 016

Date: 30 Apr 2024

Locality: Page Hill, Buckingham

Location (Lat/Long): 52.00359, -0.97765

Landscape/habitat: At top of steep slope (on a flat area) in a patch of unmown amenity grassland. Slightly shaded area.

Identification notes: Inflorescence clearly an umbel, so looking at Apiaceae family. Initially I thought it could be Rough Chervil, as the stem looked purple (see 5th image in gallery), it had leaves 3-pinnate and 0 bracts BUT it didn't have 5-8 bracteoles. Also, this flowers later, in Jun/Jul (after A. sylvestris).

From Streeter et al. (2016, p.344) description of characters, with my observations:

• Leaves 3-pinnate (yes, shown in 2nd image)

• Bracts absent (shown in 3rd image)

• Several bracteoles (I counted 4, shown in 3rd image)

• Habitat: roadsides (just down from a road/footpath)

• Flowers Apr-Jun (observed end of April)

• Stems: hollow (there was another specimen close by that had been mown, so I was able to check this stem and it was hollow)

Name: Cow Parsley, Anthriscus sylvestris

References

Streeter, D., Hart-Davies, C., Hardcastle, A., Cole, F. and Harper, L. (2016) Collins wild flower guide. Revised and updated 2nd edition. edn. London: William Collins.