Parsley |
| PARSLEY Petroselium crispum (Mill.) Nym., family Umbelliferae Parsley is grown "nearly everywhere in home and market gardens alike"; thus, there is a relatively large demand for seed. In 1969, the United States produced 97,000 pounds on 139 acres and imported another 115,000 pounds. The green leaves are used as a garnish and as a seasoning of soups and other foods. Turnip-rooted parsley (var. radicosum Bailey) is grown for its thick parsniplike tapering root. Plant: Parsley is normally a biennial when grown for seed. During the first year, it forms a dense rosette of leaves. In the second year, it develops a 3- to 6-foot stem with small greenish-yellow flowers. The umbels are less dense than those of carrots. The seed is harvested in the fall by the method used in carrot seed production. Inflorescence: The bisexual, 2-mm floret of the compound parsley umbel has five greenish-yellow petals, five stamens, two styles, and a two-celled ovary, each cell of which produces one seed. The flowers are less showy than those of carrots. According to Knuth, nectar is secreted by an epigynous disk, which is freely exposed in the middle of the floret. He also indicated that the stamens ripen successively; then, after all have ripened and withered in a flower, the style begins to grow and the stigma becomes receptive. Pollination Requirements: Darwin stated that bagged parsley plants set as many seeds as open plants, but the crossed seed produced by the open-pollinated plant had a very slight advantage. Jones and Rosa stated that the flowers are self-fertile, but their drawings indicate that the flower must receive pollen from another. Hawthorn and Pollard stated that the flowers are potentially self-fertile, but did not explain how self- fertilization might be accomplished. Pollinators: No other information was found that insects, wind, or gravity influenced the pollination of parsley, except for the statement by Hawthorn and Pollard that insects aid in its pollination. If the stigma does not become receptive until after all pollen has disappeared, the nectar of the flower must lure the insect. Nectar-collecting insects and not pollen collectors would therefore appear to be the primary agents. Source: United States Department of Agriculture |