e-Key v3 - *Ammi
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Interactive keys to the identification of seed plants of southern Africa using keys based on plant morphology.

Apiaceae - Apioideae - *Ammi L.

Description :

  • Robust, erect, annual or perennial herbs; stem sparingly branched and wiry, glabrous; taproot slender
  • Leaves pinnate or bipinnate, with ultimate segments elliptic to broadly obovate, toothed along margins; segments of upper leaves narrower
  • Flowers in large, compound, showy, many-rayed, terminal umbels; involucres conspicuous, of several pinnate bracts
  • Calyx with obsolete teeth
  • Petals ovate, white
  • Fruit narrowly oblong, glabrous, with pale, narrow ribs; oil ducts 6, 4 in furrows, 2 on inner face
  • Seeds dorsally compressed
  • x = 10, 11

Nomenclature:

  • *Ammi L.
    • Linnaeus: 243 (1753)
    • Townsend: 48 (1989)
    • Burtt: 171 (1991)
    • Pimenov & Leonov: 18 (1993)

Distribution & Notes:

  • Global : Species 3 or 4, Europe, Asia and Africa
  • Southern Africa : Species 1: * Ammi majus L. var. glaucifolium (L.) Godron, Lace-plant; cultivated for decorative purposes and has become naturalised in several places

References:

  • BURTT, B.L. 1991. Umbelliferae of southern Africa: an introduction and annotated checklist. Edinburgh Journal of Botany 48
  • LINNAEUS, C. 1753. Species plantarum . Laurentius Salvius, Stockholm
  • PIMENOV, M.G. & LEONOV, M.V. 1993. The genera of the Umbelliferae . A nomenclator . Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew
  • TOWNSEND, C.C. 1989. Flora of tropical East Africa . Umbelliferae