1967]

THE lUYSTERIOUS CULTIVATED ANGELICA

OF NE\V ZEALAND

447

My first acquaintance with this striking ornamental Angelica came in

August 1964 when I received specimens from Mr W. R. Sykes. who asked

me to comment on whether or not they might be of North American

derivation. He was convinced that the plant. whatever else it might be.

was not Angelica arc/umgelica L. (Archangelica o{ficinalis Hoffm.). the

true culinary species. This latter species has nearly spherical umbels quite

dissimilar leaflets. and very different fruit. The best I could do ~t the

time was to express the view that the unknown Angelica was neither

American nor Japanese. the only areas for which I felt I could be

dogmatic. But the foliage was reminiscent of some very old and

unnamed sheets of obscure derivation that I had encountered in the

Museum National d'Histoire Naturelle. Paris. and in the Conservatoire

et Jardin Botanique. Geneva. while searching for authentic material of

the North American A. ludda L.

In responding to my negative identification. Mr Sykes amplified his

remarks by noting: "I had a vague idea originally that it might be

a Mediterranean or Macaronesian species. but this was only a hunch with

no firm reason behind it." He mentioned the somewhat similar behaviour

of the Canary Island Melanoselinum decipiens (Schrad. & Wendt)

Hoffm .• which is naturalised in New Zealand and comes up freely from

seed. as it does also in California. These two suggestions jogged my

recollection that the Paris and Geneva sheets were presumably from the

Iberian Peninsula.

This year J have been successful in growing to maturity plants derived

from seed collected by Mr A. J. Healy at Riccarton. Christchurch (CHR

143.831). This has not permitted a comparison with adequate herbarium

material. because we have little from southern Europe. but only with

the literature; however. J believe that this is adequate to permit a reliable

determination. The mysterious Angelica compares very favourably with the descrip­

tion of Angelica pachycarpa. described in 1864 by Lange from La

Coruna. on the northwestern coast of Spain. Such enumerated characters

as the stout stem. bipinnatisect deep green leaves shining above. sca.beru­

lous rays. oersistent mvolucel. greenish white petals, and the fles~y-T1bbed

fruit all correspond satisfactorily with the material grown here (Figs. 1-6).

In Wilkomm and Lange's Prodromus Flarat lIispanicae, A. pachycarpa

is compared with both A.lunda ("ex America bor., specie saltern valde

N.Z. JI 8(1(. $: 447-9

448 NEW ZEALAND JOURNAL OJ' BOTANY [SEPTEMBER

FIG. I-Angelica pachycarpa Lange. Habit.

1967] NOTES AND COM MENTS

2

FIG. 2-Umbellet. showing involucel. X6.

FIG. 3-Transection of mature fruit. X 12.

FIG. 4-Leaftet. XI.

FIG. 5-F1ower. XIS.

FIG. 6-Mature fruit. X6. (All fro:n Healy, 143,83/.)

449

affine") and Archangelica ofjicinia/is Hoffm. They conclude that neither of these more boreal plants would be likely to occur in Spain. In lieu of an authentic specimen for verification of the identification, I turned to illustrations and found one in Engler and Prantl's Die Pflanzenfamilien 3 (8): 66, fig. 12. 1897. Although one would scarcely recognise the plant from this picture, I think one can recognise the picture from the plant.

Mr Sykes states that Angelica pachycarpa is more widely cultivated than the culinary species, and is primarily valued for its very handsome glossy foliage: just how and when it entered New Zealand is unknown.

LINCOLN CONSTANCE, Department of Botany,

University of California, Berkeley.