Chinese Hemlock Parsley: Feathery Foliage of Conioselinum chinense

Summary: Chinese Hemlock Parsley (Conioselinum chinense) is a New World perennial native to central eastern Canada and the United States.

Conioselinum chinense as synonymous Conioselinum filicinum, Mount Iide, Fukushima prefecture, northeastern Honshu, Japan; Saturday, Aug. 28, 2010, 10:46: Qwert1234, CC BY SA 3.0 Unported, via Wikimedia Commons

Conioselinum chinense is a flowering perennial plant native to North America in the New World and ranging from North Asia to Japan in the Old World.

Canadian homelands encompass the two Central Canadian provinces of Ontario and Quebec eastward to the Atlantic provinces of New Brunswick, Newfoundland and Labrador, Nova Scotia, and Prince Edward Island. Off the southern coast of Newfoundland, France’s overseas collectivity of Saint Pierre and Miquelon shelters native populations of Conioselinum chinense.

In the United States, homelands are found from New England to the Great Lakes states and the Missouri River states of Iowa, Missouri and Nebraska; in mid-Atlantic states of New Jersey, North Carolina and Virginia; and Gulf Coast states of Alabama and Louisiana.

Scientific names include genus renames and transfers: Athamanta chinense; Cnidium chinense; Ligusticum chinense; Selinum chinense.

An array of species synonyms includes Conioselinum canadense and other New World natives as well as such Old World inhabitants as Conioselinum filicinum and Conioselinum nipponicum in Eurasia.

Conioselinum chinense is known commonly in English as Chinese Hemlock Parsley. The inclusion of Hemlock-Parsley in the common names of plants in this genus reflects a direct translation of Conioselinum (Ancient Greek: κώνειον, koneion, “hemlock” + σέλινον, sélinon, “celery, parsley”).

Chinese Hemlock Parsley prefers wetlands, such as floodplains, wet meadows, stream banks, swamps, and riparian (Latin: riparius, “relating to a riverbank”) woodlands. Chinese Hemlock Parsley tolerates non-wetland, or terrestrial, habitats, such as forests and grasslands and accepts shady environments.

Chinese Hemlock Parsley rises gracefully to heights ranging from 1 to 5 feet (0.3048 – 1.524 meters). Fernlike leaves adorn pedicels (Latin: pedicellus, “little foot”) that form broad wings along the plant’s smooth stem.

Small stellate (Latin: stella, “star”) flowers open, each with five white petals, from mid-summer to early autumn. Flowers emerge atop an unbranched stem as flat-topped umbels (Latin: umbella, diminutive of umbra, “shade”), clusters of floral stalks arising from their common center at the stem’s tip and forming a flat surface. Umbels present diameter ranges of 1 to 5 inches (3 to 12 centimeters).

Dry fruit are broadly oblong or oval with prominent ribbing. At maturity the fruit splits apart as two one-seeded carpels known as mericarps, or half-fruits.

Chinese Hemlock Parsley appears in the traditional medicine of the Mi’kmaq of Canada’s Atlantic Provinces and Gaspé Peninsula in Quebec as a treatment for bladder infections. An infusion of Chinese Hemlock Parsley leaves and roots is blended with Prince’s pine (Chimaphila umbellate) and curly dock (Rumex crispus).

Chinese Hemlock Parsley frames my yard via the lush northern field and the expansive southern meadow, both of which radiate eastward from the ephemeral creek and vernal pool marking my yard’s western border. A sunny patch at my yard’s southeastern border features Chinese Hemlock Parsley, comfortably thriving amidst blackberry (Rubus fruticosus), chicory (Cichorium intybus), elderberry (Sambucus canadensis), and Canadian goldenrod (Solidago canadensis).

Slender stems decorated with feathery green leaflets and upturned, white floral parasols offer dazzling evidence of Chinese Hemlock Parsley’s thriving comfort with perfect, wild placements in my yard.

range map for Conioselinum chinense in Canada and the US: US Department of Agriculture, Public Domain, via USDA-NRCS Plants Database, via USDA

Acknowledgment

My special thanks to talented artists and photographers/concerned organizations who make their fine images available on the internet.

Image credits:

Conioselinum chinense as synonymous Conioselinum filicinum, Mount Iide, Fukushima prefecture, northeastern Honshu, Japan; Saturday, Aug. 28, 2010, 10:46: Qwert1234, CC BY SA 3.0 Unported, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Conioselinum_filicinum_1.JPG)

USDA range map for Conioselinum chinense in Canada and the US: US Department of Agriculture, via USDA-NRCS PLANTS Database @ https://plants.usda.gov/core/profile?symbol=COCH2

For further information:

“Hemlock Parsley Conioselinum chinense (L.) B.S.P.” Massachusetts Division of Fisheries & Wildlife > Natural Heritage Endangered Species Program > Endangered Species List and Fact Sheets.
Available @ http://www.mass.gov/eea/docs/dfg/nhesp/species-and-conservation/nhfacts/conioselinum-chinense.pdf

Moerman, Daniel. Native American Medicinal Plants: An Ethnobotanical Dictionary. Portland OR: Timber Press Inc., 2009.

Pimenov, Michael G., Eugene V. Kljuykov, and Tatiana A. Ostroumova. “A Revision of Conioselinum Hoffm. (Umbelliferae) in the Old World.” Willdenowia, vol. 33, no. 2 (December 2003): 353–377.
Available @ http://www.researchgate.net/publication/228891284_A_revision_of_Conioselinum_Hoffm.(Umbelliferae)_in_the_Old_World

"Umbelliferae." Genesis Nursery Inc. > Up Ur C Genesis Nursery Notes. Revised May 4, 2013.
Available @ http://www.genesisnurseryinc.com/Up%20Ur%20C/C15%20whatsupdoc.pdf