Narrow-leaf water-dropwort

Oenanthe silaifolia, the narrow-leaved water-dropwort or pepper-saxifrage water-dropwort, is an erect, glabrous perennial herb of the Apiaceae native to damp meadows and floodplains across western and central Europe and the Mediterranean basin. The plant arises from a fascicle of swollen, fusiform to oblong root-tubers and reaches 30-100 cm in flower. Stems are stout, hollow, longitudinally ridged and sparingly branched in their upper parts. Basal and lower stem leaves are two- to three-pinnate with very narrow, almost filiform ultimate segments 5-30 mm long and 0.5-1 mm wide, giving the foliage a feathery appearance; petioles are long and sheathing. Upper cauline leaves are smaller and progressively more reduced. The terminal compound umbels are 3-7 cm across with 5-15 stout, glabrous rays that are conspicuously thickened in fruit; involucral bracts at the base of the umbel are usually absent or very few, while the involucels at the base of each umbellule are well developed and lanceolate. Flowers are small, white, with five notched petals and inferior bilocular ovaries. Fruits are oblong to cylindrical, 3-4 mm long, with prominently thickened lateral and dorsal ribs and persistent erect styles. All parts of the plant are toxic.