Parsley

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Parsley, common name for a large family of herbaceous flowering plants, containing many important foods and flavorings, and for one of its genera. This family of dicots contains about 3,000 species and is nearly cosmopolitan in distribution, although most common in temperate areas. The family is well known for its characteristic inflorescence (flower cluster), called an umbel. The individual pedicels (flower stalks) arise from the same point on the peduncle (one of the inflorescence stalks) and are of such lengths that all the flowers are raised to the same height above their point of common attachment; thus the umbel is flat-topped. The basically five-parted flowers are rather uniform throughout the family. The fruits, however, which develop from the two-parted ovary, which is inferior (borne below and fused to the other flower parts), vary remarkably.

Members of the family have many uses. The carrot and parsnip are important root crops; celery is the petioles (leafstalks) of one species. Parsley, dill, fennel, caraway, anise, and coriander are flavoring herbs. Some species are poisonous (see Poison Hemlock), whereas others are used medicinally and a few are used horticulturally.

Scientific classification: Parsley belongs to the family Apiaceae (formerly Umbelliferae). The parsley genus is Petroselinum. The carrot is classified as Daucus carota, the parsnip as Pastinaca sativa. Celery is classified as Apium graveolens. Parsley is classified as Petroselinum crispum, dill as Anethum graveolens, fennel as Foeniculum vulgare, caraway as Carum carvi, anise as Pimpinella anisum, and coriander as Coriandrum sativum.

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