Petroselinum is a genus of two parsley species of flowering plants in the family Apiaceae, native to western and southern Europe and northern Africa. Plants of this genus are bright green, hairless, biennial and herbaceous; they are rarely annual plants. In the first year, they form a rosette of pinnate to tripinnate leaves and a tap root used as a food store over the winter. In the second year they grow a flowering stem up to 1 m tall with sparser leaves and umbels of white or pinkish to yellowish-green flowers.

Taxonomy

The generic name comes from rendering the Greek word πετροσέλινον petroselinon "rock-celery" into Latin, from πέτρα petra "rock, stone" and σέλινον selinon "celery". Mycenaean Greek se-ri-no, in Linear B, is the earliest attested form of the word selinon.

Species

The species of this genus are: