- Family:
- Apiaceae Lindl.
Heracleum L.

[FTEA]
Umbelliferae, C.C. Townsend. Flora of Tropical East Africa. 1989
- Morphology General Habit
- Perennial or biennial herbs, dwarf to gigantic, glabrous or more frequently ± densely furnished with unicellular, simple and subglandular hairs
- Morphology Leaves
- Leaves simple and lobed to 1–2-pinnately or ternately divided with usually broad, dentate-incised to pinnatifid segments; sheaths often large, soft
- Morphology Reproductive morphology Inflorescences
- Umbels numerous, compound, pedunculate; involucre present or absent; involucel usually of numerous narrow bracteoles
- Morphology Reproductive morphology Flowers
- Flowers polygamous
- Morphology Reproductive morphology Flowers Calyx
- Calyx-teeth present, small and usually deciduous
- Morphology Reproductive morphology Flowers Corolla
- Petals white to creamy, greenish or pink, the outer petals of the outer partial umbels slightly to very conspicuously radiate, the inner with an inflexed tip
- Morphology Reproductive morphology Fruits
- Fruit very strongly dorsally compressed with thickened marginal wings and 3 filiform but often quite prominent dorsal ribs, glabrous to hairy; stylopodia conical, from a broad crenate-margined discoid base; vittae solitary in the valleculae, 0–2 on the commissure, slender to clavate, usually reaching most of the way down each mericarp but sometimes short; carpophore deeply bifid
- Morphology Reproductive morphology Seeds
- Endosperm very flattened, shallowly rounded dorsally or sulcate at the vittae, flat or slightly concave centrally on the commissural face.
[FZ]
Umbelliferae, J. F. M. Cannon. Flora Zambesiaca 4. 1978
- Morphology General Habit
- Perennial, biennial or annual herbs.
- Morphology Leaves
- Leaves pinnately divided, usually with broad segments.
- Morphology Reproductive morphology Inflorescences
- Umbels compound; bracts 0; bracteoles several.
- Morphology Reproductive morphology Flowers Calyx
- Calyx teeth minute or obsolete, unequal.
- Morphology Reproductive morphology Flowers Corolla
- Petals white (sometimes flushed with pink, especially in bud), often markedly unequal and radiate, those on the outer margin of the umbel being much larger than those on the inside, the whole umbel therefore tending to function like a capitulum in attracting insects, although the individual flowers remain quite distinct.
- Morphology Reproductive morphology Fruits
- Fruit orbicular to broadly obovate, very strongly dorsally compressed, with a broad commissure. Marginal ridges expanded to form a broad wing, the dorsal ones filiform; wings somewhat thickened and closely appressed to those of the opposing mericarp.
- Morphology Reproductive morphology Fruits Vittae
- Vittae solitary in the intervals, clearly visible from the exterior, and tending to be club-shaped, narrowing towards the base, with 2 in the commissural face.
[FIQ]
Ghazanfar, S. A. & Edmondson, J. R (Eds). (2014) Flora of Iraq, Volume 5 Part 2: Lythraceae to Campanulaceae.
- Morphology General Habit
- Perennial or biennial herbs, very variable in stature, some gigantic, some dwarf, usually ± pubescent, setose or scabrous
- Morphology Leaves
- Leaves 1–3-pinnate with broad segments or variably trisect or ternate to entire and ± lobed
- Morphology Reproductive morphology Inflorescences
- Umbels compound, the central hermaphrodite and laterals with central flowers male, or hermaphrodite
- Morphology Reproductive morphology Inflorescences Bracts
- Bracts of involucre mostly absent or caducous, bracteoles several-Flowers white, regular, outer usually ± radiant
- Morphology Reproductive morphology Flowers Corolla
- Petals long-cuneate below, outer obcordate above from the deeply 2-lobed or emarginate tips, inner with an incurved acumen
- Morphology Reproductive morphology Flowers Calyx
- Calyx teeth small
- Morphology Reproductive morphology Fruits
- Fruit ± round, elliptical or obcordate, strongly plano compressed dorsally, pubescent at least when young Mericarps almost flat, the 3 median ribs slender and not conspicuous, laterals with thickened margins, closely contiguous and forming a wing to the fruit
- Morphology Reproductive morphology Fruits Vittae
- Vittae solitary in valleculae, shorter than the fruit, conspicuous and swollen at end and appearing narrowly claviform
- Disc
- Disk and stylopodia variable, conical-Carpophore bipartite
- Morphology Reproductive morphology Seeds Endosperm
- Endosperm with the commissural face flat, commissural vittae 0–2.
- Distribution
- About 70 species in the N temperate region and on mountains in the tropics, but specific limits often uncertain; two species in Iraq.
- Note
- Heracleum (the name of a plant in Theophrastus, from Gr. πᾰνάκεια χηρακλειον panakeia herakleion (“all-heal Hercules”), some species of the genus having been at one time used medicinally); Cow- Parsnip, Cowparsnip (Am.). According to Uphof (1968), the boiled leaves and fruit of the Common Cow-Parsnip (H. sphondylium) formed the basis of an alcoholic beverage, known as Bartsch in Slavonic countries, which is still used in some French liqueurs.
Native to:
Afghanistan, Alaska, Albania, Alberta, Aleutian Is., Algeria, Altay, Amur, Arizona, Assam, Austria, Belgium, British Columbia, Bulgaria, Buryatiya, California, Central European Rus, China North-Central, China South-Central, China Southeast, Chita, Colorado, Connecticut, Czechoslovakia, Delaware, Denmark, East European Russia, East Himalaya, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Finland, France, Georgia, Germany, Great Britain, Greece, Hungary, Idaho, Illinois, India, Indiana, Inner Mongolia, Iowa, Iran, Iraq, Ireland, Irkutsk, Italy, Japan, Kamchatka, Kansas, Kazakhstan, Kentucky, Kenya, Khabarovsk, Kirgizstan, Korea, Krasnoyarsk, Krym, Kuril Is., Labrador, Lebanon-Syria, Maine, Malawi, Manchuria, Manitoba, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Mongolia, Montana, Morocco, Myanmar, Nebraska, Nepal, Netherlands, Nevada, New Brunswick, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Newfoundland, North Carolina, North Caucasus, North Dakota, North European Russi, Northwest European R, Northwest Territorie, Norway, Nova Scotia, Ohio, Ontario, Oregon, Pakistan, Pennsylvania, Poland, Portugal, Primorye, Prince Edward I., Qinghai, Québec, Rhode I., Romania, Sakhalin, Saskatchewan, Sicilia, South Dakota, Spain, Sudan, Sumatera, Sweden, Switzerland, Tadzhikistan, Tanzania, Tennessee, Tibet, Transcaucasus, Turkey, Turkey-in-Europe, Tuva, Uganda, Ukraine, Utah, Uzbekistan, Vermont, Vietnam, Virginia, Washington, West Himalaya, West Siberia, West Virginia, Wisconsin, Wyoming, Xinjiang, Yakutskiya, Yugoslavia, Yukon, Zaïre
Introduced into:
Argentina South, District of Columbia, Føroyar, Haiti, Iceland, New Zealand North, New Zealand South
- Heracleum abyssinicum (Boiss.) C.Norman
- Heracleum aconitifolium Woronow
- Heracleum akasimontanum Koidz.
- Heracleum albovii Manden.
- Heracleum amanum Boiss. & Kotschy
- Heracleum angustisectum (Stoj. & Acht.) Peev
- Heracleum anisactis Boiss. & Hohen.
- Heracleum antasiaticum Manden.
- Heracleum apiifolium Boiss.
- Heracleum argaeum Boiss. & Balansa
- Heracleum asperum (Hoffm.) M.Bieb.
- Heracleum austriacum L.
- Heracleum bhutanicum M.F.Watson
- Heracleum biternatum W.W.Sm.
- Heracleum candicans Wall. ex DC.
- Heracleum × carbonnieri Reduron, Michaud & J.Molina
- Heracleum carpaticum Porcius
- Heracleum chorodanum (Hoffm.) DC.
- Heracleum crenatifolium Boiss.
- Heracleum cyclocarpum K.Koch
- Heracleum dalgadianum S.M.Almeida
- Heracleum dissectifolium K.T.Fu
- Heracleum dissectum Ledeb.
- Heracleum egrissicum Gagnidze
- Heracleum elgonense (H.Wolff) Bullock
- Heracleum fargesii H.Boissieu
- Heracleum forrestii H.Wolff
- Heracleum franchetii M.Hiroe
- Heracleum freynianum Sommier & Levier
- Heracleum gorganicum Rech.f.
- Heracleum grandiflorum Steven ex M.Bieb.
- Heracleum hemsleyanum Diels
- Heracleum henryi H.Wolff
- Heracleum humile Sm.
- Heracleum incanum Boiss. & A.Huet
- Heracleum jacquemontii C.B.Clarke
- Heracleum kansuense Diels
- Heracleum kingdonii H.Wolff
- Heracleum lehmannianum Bunge
- Heracleum leskovii Grossh.
- Heracleum ligusticifolium M.Bieb.
- Heracleum likiangense H.Wolff
- Heracleum mantegazzianum Sommier & Levier
- Heracleum maximum W.Bartram
- Heracleum moellendorffii Hance
- Heracleum nyalamense R.H.Shan & T.S.Wang
- Heracleum oncosepalum (Hand.-Mazz.) Pimenov & Kljuykov
- Heracleum oreocharis H.Wolff
- Heracleum orphanidis Boiss.
- Heracleum ossethicum Manden.
- Heracleum paphlagonicum Czeczott
- Heracleum pastinaca Fenzl
- Heracleum pastinacifolium K.Koch
- Heracleum persicum Desf. ex Fisch., C.A.Mey. & Avé-Lall.
- Heracleum peshmeniana Ekim
- Heracleum pinnatum C.B.Clarke
- Heracleum platytaenium Boiss.
- Heracleum ponticum (Lipsky) Schischk. ex Grossh.
- Heracleum pubescens (Hoffm.) M.Bieb.
- Heracleum pumilum Vill.
- Heracleum rapula Franch.
- Heracleum rawianum C.C.Towns.
- Heracleum rechingeri Manden.
- Heracleum × rodnense Nyár. & Todor
- Heracleum roseum Steven
- Heracleum scabridum Franch.
- Heracleum scabrum Albov
- Heracleum schansianum Fedde ex H.Wolff
- Heracleum schelkovnikowii Woronow
- Heracleum sibiricum L.
- Heracleum sommieri Manden.
- Heracleum sosnowskyi Manden.
- Heracleum souliei H.Boissieu
- Heracleum sphondylium L.
- Heracleum stenopteroides Fedde ex H.Wolff
- Heracleum stenopterum Diels
- Heracleum subglabrum Kitam.
- Heracleum subtomentellum C.Y.Wu & M.L.Sheh
- Heracleum sumatranum Buwalda ex Steenis
- Heracleum taylorii C.Norman
- Heracleum tiliifolium H.Wolff
- Heracleum trachyloma Fisch. & C.A.Mey.
- Heracleum vicinum H.Boissieu
- Heracleum villosum (Hoffm.) Fisch. ex Spreng.
- Heracleum wenchuanense F.T.Pu & X.J.He
- Heracleum wilhelmsii Fisch. & C.A.Mey.
- Heracleum wolongense F.T.Pu & X.J.He
- Heracleum woodii M.F.Watson
- Heracleum xiaojinense F.T.Pu & X.J.He
- Heracleum yungningense Hand.-Mazz.
Heracleum L. appears in other Kew resources:
First published in Sp. Pl.: 249 (1753)
Accepted by
- Tutin, T.G. & al. (eds.) (1968). Flora Europaea 2: 1-469. Cambridge University Press.
Literature
Flora of Iraq
- Linnaeus, Gen. Pl. ed. 5: 118 (1754)
- Linnaeus, Sp. Pl. ed. 1: 249 (1753);
Flora Zambesiaca
- Gen. Pl. ed. 5: 118 (1754).
- Sp. Pl. 1: 249 (1753)
Flora of Tropical East Africa
- L., Gen. Pl., ed. 5: 118 (1754)
- Sp. Pl.: 249 (1753)
-
Flora Zambesiaca
Flora Zambesiaca
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0
-
Flora of Iraq
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0
-
Flora of Tropical East Africa
Flora of Tropical East Africa
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0
-
Kew Backbone Distributions
The International Plant Names Index and World Checklist of Selected Plant Families 2022. Published on the Internet at http://www.ipni.org and http://apps.kew.org/wcsp/
© Copyright 2017 World Checklist of Selected Plant Families. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0
-
Kew Names and Taxonomic Backbone
The International Plant Names Index and World Checklist of Selected Plant Families 2022. Published on the Internet at http://www.ipni.org and http://apps.kew.org/wcsp/
© Copyright 2017 International Plant Names Index and World Checklist of Selected Plant Families. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0