Vascular Plants of North Carolina
Account for Spreading Hedge-parsley - Torilis arvensis   (Hudson) Link
Members of Apiaceae:
Members of Torilis with account distribution info or public map:
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Section 6 » Order Apiales » Family Apiaceae
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Author(Hudson) Link
DistributionMostly in the Piedmont; also Madison County in the Mountains. First collected in 1949 in Montgomery and Stanly counties; most recently 2022 in Anson County.

Native of Europe; in N.A. in the southern US north to PA, MN, NE, WA; also B.C.
AbundanceVery rare to rare.
HabitatWaste ground by river, roadbank by river, railroad margin, roadside, parking area.
PhenologyFlowering and fruiting May-June.
IdentificationMembers of Torilis all have hooked prickles on the fruits. In T. arvensis and T. japonica, the umbel rays are well-developed (vs. poorly developed and giving the umbel a compact, head-like look in T. nodosa). From T. japonica, it can be separated by involucral bracts none or one, and spines on the fruit essentially straight with a tiny hook at the tip; the latter species has more than 2 involucral bracts (generally one per ray), and the spines on the fruit are curved but not hooked at the tip.
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State RankSE
Global RankGNR
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