Heracleum (plant)

Heracleum
Heracleum sphondylium
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Clade: Asterids
Order: Apiales
Family: Apiaceae
Subfamily: Apioideae
Tribe: Tordylieae
Subtribe: Tordyliinae
Genus: Heracleum
L.
Synonyms[1]
  • Barysoma Bunge
  • Sphondylium Adans.
  • Wendia Hoffm.

Heracleum is a genus of biennial and perennial herbs in the carrot family Apiaceae. They are found throughout the temperate northern hemisphere and in high mountains as far south as Ethiopia. Common names for the genus or its species include hogweed[2] and cow parsnip.[3][4]

The genus name Heracleum was described by Carl Linnaeus in 1753.[4] It derives from the Ancient Greek Ἡράκλειος (Hērákleios) "of Heracles", referring to the mythological hero.

  1. ^ Cite error: The named reference POWO was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ hogweed[dead link‍] at Oxford Online Dictionaries
  3. ^ Bailey, L.H.; Bailey, E.Z.; the staff of the Liberty Hyde Bailey Hortorium (1976). Hortus third: A concise dictionary of plants cultivated in the United States and Canada. New York: Macmillan. ISBN 978-0-02-505470-7.
  4. ^ a b "Heracleum L." Tropicos.org. Missouri Botanical Garden. Retrieved 11 Oct 2011.