Silaum
A botanical illustration of Silaum silaus
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
Clade:	Tracheophytes
Clade:	Angiosperms
Clade:	Eudicots
Clade:	Asterids
Order:	Apiales
Family:	Apiaceae
Subfamily:	Apioideae
Genus:	Silaum Mill.

Silaum is a genus of flowering plants in the carrot/parsley family, Apiaceae. There are currently ten species placed into the genus, a list of which is provided below.^[1]

Description

Plants in the genus Silaum have umbels which are characteristic of plants in the family Apiaceae (they are umbelliferous, "umbel-bearing"); the umbels in Silaus species tend to lack bracts.^[2] Silaum species also tend to have a few umbellules (secondary umbels of compound umbels), and these umbellules have several small bracts called bractlets.^[2] Remains of dead leaves can often be found at the base of the plant; plants in Silaum are richly branched.^[2]

The fruits of Silaum species have a carpophore,^[2] a supporting slender stalk for each half of a gape or burst open (dehisced) fruit^[3] - these are common throughout the family Apiaceae; the carpophore is thread or filament-shaped (filiform).^[2] In addition, Silaum fruits are elongated, divided and not flattened.^[2] The mericarps (one carpel of umbelliferous fruit)^[4] have acute edges and five, rather low ridges.^[2] Plants in Silaus also have an oil tube in the fruit, called a vitta^[2][5] - there is one vitta per every ridge of furrow (a vallecula), but are indistinct at maturity.^[2] The petals that surround the flowers are yellow.^[2]

Taxonomy and naming

Silaum was first formally described in 1754 by the Scottish botanist in charge of the Chelsea Physic Garden, Philip Miller; this description was published in his own reference series, The Gardeners Dictionary (abr., ed. 4 (1754)).^[2] The etymology of Silaum was not explicitly offered by Miller, who applied a plant name used by Pliny,^[6] though it may refer to the mountainous plateau La Sila in southern Italy.^[7]

References