Seseli libanotis

Seseli libanotis grows {{convert|40-120|cm|in}} high, with erect, branching stems.{{cite book|last1=Bojnanský|first1=Vít|last2=Fargašová|first2=Agáta|title=Atlas of Seeds and Fruits of Central and East-European Flora: The Carpathian Mountains Region|date=2007|publisher=Springer Science+Business Media|location=Berlin/Heidelberg|page=453|isbn=9781402053627|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QSMe0qHGVaAC}}{{cite web|title=Moon Carrot|url=http://www.luontoportti.com/suomi/en/kukkakasvit/moon-carrot|publisher=Nature Gate|accessdate=10 February 2017}} The leaves follow an alternating pattern, with lower leaves stalked and upper leaves stalkless. The undersides of leaflets are bluish green. The flowers grow to under {{convert|5|mm|in}} wide and are white, sometimes slightly reddish. The flowers follow an actinomorphic or slightly irregular zygomorphic pattern and form umbels consisting of as many as sixty flowers, with many umbels forming smaller umbels of their own. The fruit is a flat, two-sectioned, egg-shaped schizocarp that is brown in color and slightly hairy in texture, and usually grows to {{convert|2.5-4|cm|in}} long. Three subspecies have been identified: S. l. intermedium, S. l. libanotis, and S. l. sibiricum.{{cite web|title=Flora Europaea Search Results|url=http://193.62.154.38/cgi-bin/nph-readbtree.pl/feout?FAMILY_XREF=&GENUS_XREF=Seseli&SPECIES_XREF=libanotis*&TAXON_NAME_XREF=&RANK=|publisher=Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh|accessdate=10 February 2017}}{{cite web|title=Species Taxonomic Browser: Seseli (Genus)|url=http://eunis.eea.europa.eu/species-taxonomic-browser.jsp?expand=47,254824,255217,254294,254508&genus=Seseli#level_Seseli|website=European Nature Information Service|publisher=European Environmental Agency|accessdate=10 February 2017}}

Seseli libanotis is usually a biennial, though sometimes grows as a monocarpic perennial.{{cite web|title=Seseli libanotis (Moon Carrot)|url=http://www.brc.ac.uk/plantatlas/index.php?q=node/1841|website=Online Atlas of the British and Irish Fauna|publisher=Biological Records Centre|accessdate=10 February 2017}} It flowers during July and August.{{cite web|title=Seseli libanotis – (L.)Koch.|url=http://www.pfaf.org/user/Plant.aspx?LatinName=Seseli+libanotis|publisher=Plants For A Future|accessdate=10 February 2017}} Favoring a temperate environment, its natural distribution ranges throughout much of northern and central Eurasia and parts of North Africa, from England and Scandinavia to Siberia, and is prevalent in the Carpathian Mountains. It prefers rocky terrain, grassy slopes, or shrubbed areas, with dry, well-drained soil. In Britain, it is found entirely within SSSIs, growing on chalky terrain in the Chiltern Hills and South Downs. The plant has also been introduced to Maryland in the United States.{{cite web|title=Seseli libanotis (L.) W.D.J. Koch mooncarrot|url=https://plants.usda.gov/core/profile?symbol=SELI2|website=Natural Resources Conservation Service|publisher=United States Department of Agriculture|accessdate=10 February 2017}} S. libanotis has been identified as invasive.{{cite web|title=Seseli libanotis (L.) W.D.J.Koch|url=http://eunis.eea.europa.eu/species/151044|website=European Nature Information Service|publisher=European Environmental Agency|accessdate=10 February 2017}}{{cite web|title=Seseli libanotis|url=http://www.cabi.org/isc/datasheet/117106|website=Invasive Species Compendium|publisher=CABI|accessdate=10 February 2017}} It has not been evaluated by the IUCN, though it is rare in Britain and classified there as Near Threatened.{{cite web|title=Puccinia libanotidis (moon carrot rust)|url=http://www.kew.org/science-conservation/plants-fungi/puccinia-libanotidis-moon-carrot-rust|website=Kew Science|publisher=Kew Gardens|accessdate=10 February 2017|url-status=dead|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20170211081538/http://www.kew.org/science-conservation/plants-fungi/puccinia-libanotidis-moon-carrot-rust|archive-date=2017-02-11}}{{cite web|title=Seseli libanotis (L.) W.D.J. Koch – Moon Carrot|url=http://www.nhm.ac.uk/our-science/data/uk-species/species/seseli_libanotis.html|publisher=Natural History Museum, London|accessdate=10 February 2017}}

Seseli libanotis serves, along with S. campestre,{{cite journal|last1=Scheur|first1=C.|title=Mycotheca Graecensis, Fasc. 21 (Nos 401–420)|url=https://static.uni-graz.at/fileadmin/nawi-institute/Botanik/Fritschiana/fritschiana-54/mycotheca-graecensis-fasc-21.pdf|journal=Fritschiana (Graz)|volume=54|issue=1–9|accessdate=10 February 2017|page=5|date=2006}} as the host species for the parasitic Puccinia libanotidis, or moon carrot rust, a species of the rust genus Puccinia.{{cite web|title=Weird and wonderful plant and fungal discoveries of 2010|url=https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/12/101219124718.htm|publisher=Science Daily|accessdate=10 February 2017|date=24 December 2010}} P. libanotidis was long thought extinct from Britain, having not been recorded since 1946, but it was rediscovered in 2009 through a study by Kew Gardens.

The leaves and root are edible. S. libanotis is useful in honey production and has also been used in folk medicine.{{cite web|title=Taxon: Seseli libanotis (L.) W. D. J. Koch|url=https://npgsweb.ars-grin.gov/gringlobal/taxonomydetail.aspx?id=406726|website=National Plant Germplasm System|publisher=Agricultural Research Service|accessdate=10 February 2017}} Several studies suggest that S. libanotis and other members of Seseli have natural antimicrobial and antioxidant properties.{{cite journal|last1=Ozturk|first1=Suzan|last2=Ercisli|first2=Sezai|title=Chemical composition and in vitro antibacterial activity of Seseli libanotis|journal=World Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology|date=24 January 2006|volume=22|issue=3|pages=261–265|doi=10.1007/s11274-005-9029-9|s2cid=85017675}}
{{cite journal|last1=Matejić|first1=Jelena|last2=Džamić|first2=Ana|last3=Mihajilov-Krstev|first3=Tatjana|last4=Ranđelović|first4=Vladimir|last5=Krivošej|first5=Zoran|last6=Marin|first6=Petar|editor1-last=Ratajczak|editor1-first=Mariusz|title=Total phenolic content, flavonoid concentration, antioxidant and antimicrobial activity of methanol extracts from three Seseli L. taxa|journal=Open Life Sciences|date=10 October 2012|volume=7|issue=6|pages=1116–1122|doi=10.2478/s11535-012-0094-4|doi-access=free}}
{{cite journal|last1=Lemmich|first1=John|last2=Shabana|first2=Marawan|title=Coumarin sulphates of Seseli libanotis|journal=Phytochemistry|date=11 April 1984|volume=23|issue=4|pages=863–865|doi=10.1016/S0031-9422(00)85044-X}}
{{cite journal|last1=Küpelia|last2=Tosun|last3=Yesilada|first1=Esra|first2=Alev|first3=Erdem|title=Anti-inflammatory and antinociceptive activities of Seseli L. species (Apiaceae) growing in Turkey|journal=Journal of Ethnopharmacology|date=6 April 2006|volume=104|issue=3|pages=310–314|doi=10.1016/j.jep.2005.09.021|pmid=16226417}}
{{cite journal|last1=Lemmich|last2=Lemmich|last3=Nielsen|first1=John|first2=Else|first3=Bent Eichstadt|title=Constituents of Umbelliferous Plants. VIII. Coumarins from the Root of Seseli libanotis (L.) Koch. The Structure of Three New Coumarins|url=http://actachemscand.dk/pdf/acta_vol_20_p2497-2507.pdf|journal=Acta Chemica Scandinavica|volume=60|year=1966|issue=9|accessdate=10 February 2017|pages=2497–2507|doi=10.3891/acta.chem.scand.20-2497|pmid=5965135|doi-access=free}}

{{Reflist|40em}}

{{Wikispecies|Seseli libanotis}}

{{commonscat|Libanotis pyrenaica}}

{{Taxonbar|from=Q1595512}}

Category:Edible Apiaceae

Category:Root vegetables

Category:Apioideae