---

CHERVIL
Anthriscus cerefolium (L.) Hoffm., family Umbelliferae

Chervil, or salad chervil, is of minor importance even in California where it is grown (Rosengarten 1969*) but is of more importance in Europe. It is used primarily as a substitute for parsley (Thompson and Kelly l957).

Plant:

Chervil is usually seeded in early spring but sometimes in the fall. The plants are usually grown in 12-inch rows, 6 to 10 inches apart in the row. The leaves may be harvested in 6 to 8 weeks after planting. Chervil produces a seedstalk to 2 feet tall, sets a crop of seed, and dies by midsummer (Knott 1949). Its culture is similar to that of coriander (Sievers 1948).

Inflorescence:

The minute five-petaled white flowers are in umbels and are hermaphrodite or pseudohermaphrodite staminate (Knuth 1908*, p. 512). According to Kerner (1897*, p. 325), the anthers of all species of Anthriscus have two kinds of inflorescences. The umbels that blossom first have principally true hermaphrodite flowers with a few isolated staminate flowers. The later umbels are only staminate. The hermaphrodite flowers shed pollen before the stigma of the same flower becomes receptive. Kerner (1897*, p. 325) stated: ". . . the anthers, borne on very thin filaments, are brought one after the other to the center of the flower, where they dehisce and scatter their pollen, and the day following they drop off. After all 5 stamens have dropped off the stigmas become mature and receptive. They continue in this condition for 2 days and during this period are liable to crossing with pollen of other plants." Then the pedicels of the umbels bearing only staminate flowers elongate, so that these flowers stand over the hermaphrodite flowers with their mature stigmas, and their anthers release pollen that falls upon the stigmas below.

Each flower has a two-celled ovary, each of which produces two seeds attached to each other by a Y-shaped stalk (Bailey 1949*). Apparently, both nectar and pollen are produced by the flowers.

Pollination Requirements:

The early flowers are dependent upon pollen brought to them from other plants. Later flowers receive pollen by gravity from the anthers above them. Self-fertilization within a flower is impossible.

Pollinators:

Knuth (1908*, p. 513) mentioned the honey bee and various other hymenoptera, as well as coleoptera and diptera, as visitors to the chervil flowers. Gravity also contributes to the pollination. The agitation of the flowers by the insects can contribute to the rain of pollen on the stigmas below.

Pollination Recommendations and Practices

None, probably because of the small acreage necessary to produce the required seed. Large plantings would doubtless benefit if bees were plentiful within the field.

LITERATURE CITED:

KNOTT, J. E.
1949. VEGETABLE GROWING 314 pp. Lea and Febiger, Philidelphia.

SIEVERS, A. F.
1948. PRODUCTION OF DRUG AND CONDIMENT PLANTS U. S. Dept. Agr. Farmers' Bul. 1999, 99 pp.

THOMPSON, H. C., and KELLY, W. C.
1957. VEGETABLE CROPS. Ed. 5, 611 pp. McGraw-Hill Book Co., Inc., New York and London.

---