Anthriscus

Anthriscus includes our native roadside cow parsley, which lights up May with its airy white flowers. These flowers are typical of the genus, which only contains another 12 species, but spread across Europe, Asia, surprisingly some tropical African mountains and even a small area of Argentina. Foliage can be parsley like, as shown by A. cerefolium, the culinary chervil. Foliage can also be coloured, A. sylvestris 'Golden Fleece' and the stunning A. sylvestris 'Ravenswing.

As with all umbellifers, the heads of numerous tiny flowers provide a huge resource of nectar and pollen for a wide range of insects from tiny pollen-beetles to large hoverflies. The seeds and foliage are eaten by the larvae of several moths, leaf-mining flies and other insects.