Seseli libanotis

Seseli libanotis, also known by the common names moon carrot, mountain stone-parsley, or säfferot, is a species of herb in the genus Seseli of the carrot family, Apiaceae. It is native to Eurasia, throughout which it is widespread.

Seseli libanotis
Conservation status
Not evaluated (IUCN 3.1)
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
(unranked):	Angiosperms
(unranked):	Eudicots
(unranked):	Asterids
Order:	Apiales
Family:	Apiaceae
Genus:	Seseli
Species:	S. libanotis
Binomial name
Seseli libanotis (L.) W.D.J. Koch
Synonyms
Athamanta libanotis L.[1] Libanotis pyrenaica (L.) Bourg[2] L. montana Crantz[2]

Description

Seseli libanotis grows 40–120 centimetres (16–47 in) high, with erect, branching stems.[2][3] The leaves follow an alternating pattern, with lower leaves stalked and upper leaves stalkless. The undersides of leaflets are bluish green.[3] The flowers grow to under 5 millimetres (0.20 in) wide and are white, sometimes slightly reddish. The flowers follow an actinomorphic or slightly irregular zygomorphic pattern and form umbels consisting of as many as sixty flowers, with many umbels forming smaller umbels of their own.[3] The fruit is a flat, two-sectioned, egg-shaped schizocarp that is brown in color and slightly hairy in texture, and usually grows to 2.5–4 centimetres (0.98–1.57 in) long.[3][2] Three subspecies have been identified: S. l. intermedium, S. l. libanotis, and S. l. sibiricum.[4][5]

Ecology

Seseli libanotis is usually a biennial, though sometimes grows as a monocarpic perennial.[2][6] It flowers during July and August.[2][7] Favoring a temperate environment, its natural distribution ranges throughout much of northern and central Eurasia and parts of North Africa, from England and Scandinavia to Siberia and Japan, and is prevalent in the Carpathian Mountains.[2][6][8] It prefers rocky terrain, grassy slopes, or shrubbed areas, with dry, well-drained soil.[2][7] In Britain, it is found entirely within SSSIs, growing on chalky terrain in the Chiltern Hills and South Downs.[6][8] The plant has also been introduced to Maryland in the United States.[9] S. libanotis has been identified as invasive.[10][11] It has not been evaluated by the IUCN,[10] though it is rare in Britain and classified there as Near Threatened.[8][1]

Seseli libanotis serves, along with S. campestre,[12] as the host species for the parasitic Puccinia libanotidis, or moon carrot rust, a species of the rust genus Puccinia.[8][13] P. libanotidis was long thought extinct from Britain, having not been recorded since 1946, but it was rediscovered in 2009 through a study by Kew Gardens.[8][13]

Uses

The leaves and root are edible.[7] S. libanotis is useful in honey production and has also been used in folk medicine.[14] Several studies suggest that S. libanotis and other members of Seseli have natural antimicrobial and antioxidant properties.[15]

References

1. "Seseli libanotis (L.) W.D.J. Koch – Moon Carrot". Natural History Museum, London. Retrieved 10 February 2017.
2. Bojnanský, Vít; Fargašová, Agáta (2007). Atlas of Seeds and Fruits of Central and East-European Flora: The Carpathian Mountains Region. Berlin/Heidelberg: Springer Science+Business Media. p. 453. ISBN 9781402053627.
3. "Moon Carrot". Nature Gate. Retrieved 10 February 2017.
4. "Flora Europaea Search Results". Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh. Retrieved 10 February 2017.
5. "Species Taxonomic Browser: Seseli (Genus)". European Nature Information Service. European Environmental Agency. Retrieved 10 February 2017.
6. "Seseli libanotis (Moon Carrot)". Online Atlas of the British and Irish Fauna. Biological Records Centre. Retrieved 10 February 2017.
7. "Seseli libanotis – (L.)Koch". Plants For A Future. Retrieved 10 February 2017.
8. "Puccinia libanotidis (moon carrot rust)". Kew Science. Kew Gardens. Archived from the original on 2017-02-11. Retrieved 10 February 2017.
9. "Seseli libanotis (L.) W.D.J. Koch mooncarrot". Natural Resources Conservation Service. United States Department of Agriculture. Retrieved 10 February 2017.
10. "Seseli libanotis (L.) W.D.J.Koch". European Nature Information Service. European Environmental Agency. Retrieved 10 February 2017.
11. "Seseli libanotis". Invasive Species Compendium. CABI. Retrieved 10 February 2017.
12. Scheur, C. (2006). "Mycotheca Graecensis, Fasc. 21 (Nos 401–420)" (PDF). Fritschiana (Graz). 54 (1–9): 5. Retrieved 10 February 2017.
13. "Weird and wonderful plant and fungal discoveries of 2010". Science Daily. 24 December 2010. Retrieved 10 February 2017.
14. "Taxon: Seseli libanotis (L.) W. D. J. Koch". National Plant Germplasm System. Agricultural Research Service. Retrieved 10 February 2017.
15. Ozturk, Suzan; Ercisli, Sezai (24 January 2006). "Chemical composition and in vitro antibacterial activity of Seseli libanotis". World Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology. 22 (3): 261–265. doi:10.1007/s11274-005-9029-9.
    Matejić, Jelena; Džamić, Ana; Mihajilov-Krstev, Tatjana; Ranđelović, Vladimir; Krivošej, Zoran; Marin, Petar (10 October 2012). Ratajczak, Mariusz (ed.). "Total phenolic content, flavonoid concentration, antioxidant and antimicrobial activity of methanol extracts from three Seseli L. taxa". Open Life Sciences. 7 (6): 1116–1122. doi:10.2478/s11535-012-0094-4.
    Lemmich, John; Shabana, Marawan (11 April 1984). "Coumarin sulphates of Seseli libanotis". Phytochemistry. 23 (4): 863–865. doi:10.1016/S0031-9422(00)85044-X.
    Küpelia, Esra; Tosun, Alev; Yesilada, Erdem (6 April 2006). "Anti-inflammatory and antinociceptive activities of Seseli L. species (Apiaceae) growing in Turkey". Journal of Ethnopharmacology. 104 (3): 310–314. doi:10.1016/j.jep.2005.09.021. PMID 16226417.
    Lemmich, John; Lemmich, Else; Nielsen, Bent Eichstadt (1966). "Constituents of Umbelliferous Plants. VIII. Coumarins from the Root of Seseli libanotis (L.) Koch. The Structure of Three New Coumarins" (PDF). Acta Chemica Scandinavica. 60: 2497–2507. doi:10.3891/acta.chem.scand.20-2497. Retrieved 10 February 2017.