10. Chaerophyllum L. (chervil)
Plants annual,
glabrous or hairy. Stems spreading to erect. Leaves alternate and usually also
basal (1 to several leaves usually present at flowering), short- to
long-petiolate, the uppermost leaves sometimes nearly sessile, the sheathing
bases not or only slightly inflated. Leaf blades broadly ovate to oblong-ovate
in outline, pinnately or ternately then pinnately 3 times compound, the
ultimate leaflets entire to few-toothed or deeply pinnately lobed or dissected,
the leaflets or lobes linear to narrowly obovate, mostly narrowed at the base,
rounded or narrowed to a blunt or sharp point at the tip. Inflorescences
terminal and axillary, compound or sometimes simple (1-rayed) umbels, short- to
long-stalked or often sessile. Involucre absent (in sessile umbels, the
subtending leaf sometimes appearing as a bract). Rays 1–4(–5), usually unequal
in length, elongating as the fruits develop, ascending. Involucel of 4–6
bractlets, these mostly longer than the flower stalks but often shorter than
the fruit stalks, usually fused together at the very base, elliptic-ovate to
oblong-obovate, usually hairy along the margins. Flowers 2–15 in each umbellet,
sessile or short-stalked at flowering (the umbellets thus appearing headlike at
flowering), often elongating unequally as the fruits develop. Sepals absent.
Petals obovate, rounded or shallowly notched at the tip, white. Ovaries
glabrous or hairy. Fruits linear to narrowly oblong-elliptic in outline,
rounded or narrowed at the base, narrowed or short-tapered at the tip,
flattened laterally, glabrous or hairy, brown to dark brown with usually
lighter ribs, the mericarps sometimes somewhat arched or curved, sometimes
somewhat narrowed along the commissures, with 5 narrow to broad, low, blunt
ribs, these lacking wings. About 35 species, U.S., Canada; Europe, Asia,
Africa.