Apiaceae

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A botanical family comprising a variety of flowering plants, many of which are known for their culinary and medicinal applications, including common herbs and garden vegetables
2. This plant family is notable for its herbaceous species, which often bear aromatic qualities and are widely used in cooking and traditional medicine
3. A group of flowering plants that includes well-known culinary and medicinal herbs and vegetables

Etymology: Apiaceae is the scientific family name for carrots, celery, parsley, dill and their relatives, and its name comes from its type genus, "Apium," the Latin word for celery. Naming conventions in botany fix the family name to a genus, so "Apiaceae" was formed by adding the suffix "-aceae," a plural marker used for plant families, to the stem "Api-" of "Apium." The older name for the group was Umbelliferae, meaning "umbel-bearing," after the flat, umbrella-like flower clusters typical of these plants. Because botanical rules give priority to the oldest valid name, Umbelliferae was long the common label, but botanists later adopted Apiaceae as the official name, with Umbelliferae kept as an accepted alternative.