Scots lovage

Description

Ligusticum scoticum, known as Scots lovage, or Scottish licorice-root, is a perennial flowering plant in the celery family Apiaceae (previously Umbelliferae) found near the coasts of northern Europe and north-eastern North America. It grows up to 60 centimetres (24 in) tall and is found in rock crevices and cliff-top grassland. It is closely related to, and possibly conspecific with, Ligusticum hultenii from the coast of the northern Pacific Ocean. The plant is edible and contains the compound sotolon, which is also present in fenugreek. The leaves have a flavour similar to parsley or celery, while the seeds taste similar to fenugreek or cumin. Ligusticum scoticum is a herbaceous perennial plant which typically grows 15–60 centimetres (6–23+1 ⁄ 2 in) tall. It has triangular, twice-ternate leaves, 5–20 cm (2–7+7⁄8 in) long, with each lobe 2–5 cm (3 ⁄ 4–2 in) long. The edges of the leaves may be toothed, lobed or serrated, and are typically either a paler green or magenta. The stem branches infrequently, and bears 2–5 inflorescences, each of which is a compound umbel 4–6 cm (1+1⁄2–2+1⁄4 in) in diameter. There are typically 8–12 rays in both the primary and secondary umbels. Each individual flower is around 2 mm (1⁄16 in) in diameter and greenish-white in colour. The fruit are 4–6 mm (3⁄16–1⁄4 in) long, with five prominent ridges on each carpel. Ligusticum scoticum is primarily an Arctic plant, with a disjunct range extending from northern Norway to the more northerly shores of the British Isles, and from western Greenland to New England. A related species, Ligusticum hultenii, which was described by Merritt Lyndon Fernald in 1930 and may be better treated as a subspecies of L. scoticum, occurs around the northern Pacific Ocean, from Japan to Alaska. The southernmost occurrence of L. scoticum is at Ballyhalbert in Northern Ireland. Ligusticum scoticum was first described by Carl Linnaeus in his 1753 work Species Plantarum. Linnaeus originally used the epithet scothicum, and this is used by many authors in North America; in Europe, the amended spelling scoticum is used.