The following blog was written by Chris Knowles a digitiser in the Herbarium.

Since 2021 we have increased our digitisation capacity reaching 1 million specimens imaged in August 2024. Each digitiser is assigned a family of plants to work through. This series of blogs will spotlight the families that have been completed by a member of the team.

Arracacia tolucensis Hemsl. var. multifida (S.Watson) Mathias & Constance growing in the collection (19880094)
Arracacia tolucensis Hemsl. var. multifida (S.Watson) Mathias & Constance growing in the collection (19880094)

The Umbelliferae (alternatively referred to as Apiaceae) is a large family of plants with a distribution crossing most continents, although not extending into polar regions.

Most members of the family can be distinguished by the growth pattern of their flowers. These are formed singly or in clusters at the ends of long stalks that curve out from a central point, resembling the upturned ribs of an umbrella or parasol.

Many food  and medicinal plants are cultivated from the Umbelliferae like Carrots, Celery, Cumin, Coriander, Fennel and Parsley.  However it also features some of the UK’s most poisonous plants like Hemlock water-dropwort (Oenanthe crocata) and hazardous non-natives like Giant Hogweed (Heracleum mantegazzianum).

A specimen of Hemlock water-dropwort (Oenanthe crocata L.) from the collection.  The whole plant is poisonous, but the wild carrot-like roots are what lead many to making a deadly mistake. (E01262668).
A specimen of Hemlock water-dropwort (Oenanthe crocata L.) from the collection.  The whole plant is poisonous, but the wild carrot-like roots are what lead many to making a deadly mistake. (E01262668).

Our Collections

The RBGE Herbarium holds 35,605 specimens from this family, 298 of which are Type specimens, (important, original collections that the description of the species is based on).  Before this project began, 14,547 specimens had already been digitised to be available online. Since then, over the last 2.5 years, three members of the digitising team have worked to digitise an additional 21,058 specimens making the whole family collection available. Our collections can be viewed here.

Top 5 regions

No. of SpecimensHerbarium Filing Region
8,815Europe excl. Britain & Ireland 
7,140West Asia & Egypt 
4,003Britain & Ireland 
2,156North America
2,131Inner China, Korea and Taiwan 

Top 5 Genera

No. of SpecimensGenus
3,025Bupleurum
1,772Pimpinella
1,609Eryngium
1,165Heracleum
1,094Peucedanum

One of the well known genera of Umbelliferae is Heracleum, commonly referred to as Hogweeds in the UK.  There are many species distributed across the Northern temperate zone which includes most of Europe, Northern Asia and the North Americas.   RBGE has good representative collections from these regions, however there are also populations in the mountains of countries in east/central Africa, from which only a few specimens have made it to our collection. This may suggest that there is a need for further research in those areas.

The flowers of an as-yet-unidentified Heracleum specimen have been captured on this specimen from Sichuan, China.  The small envelope at the bottom left contains seeds that can be important to help with identification. (E00134751)
The flowers of an as-yet-unidentified Heracleum specimen have been captured on this specimen from Sichuan, China.  The small envelope at the bottom left contains seeds that can be important to help with identification. (E00134751)