Wild Angelica

Scientific Name: 
Angelica sylvestris

Wild Angelica is a common and robust plant of damp meadows, ditches and wet woodlands. As a member of the carrot family (an umbellifer), it displays large, umbrella-like clusters of purple-tinged flowers between July and September which are attractive to a range of insects. These flowers smell like the garden variety of angelica which is used to make sweet cake decorations.

How to identify: 
The umbels of Wild Angelica flowers are robust and rounded and tinged with red. Its purple stems are hollow, and its lower leaves are divided.
Where to find it: 
Widespread.
How people can help: 

Human activity, including the drainage of land for agriculture and development, has resulted in the disappearance of many of the UK's wetlands. The Wildlife Trusts are working closely with planners, developers and farmers to ensure our wetlands are protected. You can help too: add native plants and flowers to a wildlife-friendly pond and provide shelter for amphibians and nectar for insects. In partnership with the RHS, The Wildlife Trusts' Wild About Gardens initiative can help you plan your wildlife garden.

Statistics: 
Height: up to 2m
Conservation status: 
Common.
Did you know?: 
Garden Angelica, the close relative of Wild Angelica, has become naturalised in some areas of the UK, especially around London where it has grown on damp waste ground and its seeds have dispersed, floated downstream and taken root on the riverbanks.
Seasons: 
Summer
Autumn
When to see
Start date: 
July
End date: 
September
Image: 
Wild angelica - Philip Precey