Volume 5 > Part 4 > Year 1992 > Page 462 > Umbelliferae > Ligusticum

Ligusticum striatum Wall. ex DC.wfo-0000362231

Prod. 4: 158. 1830; Hiroe, Umbell. Asia 1: 108. 1958. Fig. 98: 1.

Accepted Name : This is currently accepted.

Synonyms & Citations :

Description : Glabrous perennial; stems terete, solid, finely striate, to ca 50 cm, leafy, branched above, with a collar of fibrous petiolar remains at base. Leaves ovate in outline, 3–4 times pinnate, ultimate segments ca 10 by 5 mm, lobed or toothed with mucronulate apices, nervation prominent beneath; sheaths of upper cauline leaves extending the length of the petiole. Bracts present, linear, 5–7 mm. Rays ca 14, 3–4 cm ± equal, glabrous or minutely papillose-tuberculate. Bracteoles 4–5 mm, linear, scarious margined. Pedicels numerous, 4–5 mm. Sepals obsolete to 0.3 mm. Petals white 1.5–2 mm with a central oil duct, emarginate. Fruit scarcely compressed, oblong-elliptic, ca 6 by 2.5 mm, with distinct raised almost winged ridges, lateral wider; dorsal vittae 1–3 in valleculae, commissural 4; styles recurved, ca 1.5 mm.

Thailand : NORTHERN: Chiang Mai (Doi Chiang Dao).

Distribution : Nepal (type), Assam.

Ecology : Limestone ridges, 1,800–2,100 m alt.

Notes: To some extent it is a matter of opinion whether our species should be placed in Ligusticum or Selinum; we prefer it in the former genus because of the strong facies resemblance to other species currently in Ligusticum which also have similar fruits – even though the vittae characters are more of the Selinum type than Ligusticum. The record of L. elatum (Edgew.) C.Clarke from Doi Chiang Dao (Acta Phytotax. Geobot. 22: 142. 1967) is a misidentification of L. striatum.

E-version notes : As Ligusticum striatum DC.