Scots lovage

Ligusticum scoticum, Scots lovage or sea lovage, is an aromatic, glabrous perennial herb of the Apiaceae native to the coasts of northern and western Europe and northeastern North America from Maine to Greenland and Labrador. It grows 15-90 cm tall from a stout, branching rhizome, with reddish, ribbed, often purplish stems and shining dark green leaves that are twice ternately divided into rhombic to broadly ovate, coarsely toothed leaflets 3-6 cm long. The whole plant has a pleasant, parsley- or celery-like fragrance when bruised. Compound umbels 4-6 cm across of small white or pinkish-white flowers appear in midsummer atop sturdy peduncles; the rays are stout and few, subtended by linear bracts and bracteoles. Fruits are oblong-ovoid mericarps 4-7 mm long with prominent ribs. The species is strictly maritime, inhabiting rocky shores, sea cliffs, and shingle banks just above high tide.