Umbelliferae for the Flora of China

Introduction
There are currently estimated to be 600 species of Umbelliferae, in 95 genera, in the People's Republic of China. Of these 19 are endemic genera, comprising of 84 species: Dickinsia, Chaerophyllopsis, Changium, Cyclorhiza, Physospermopsis, Sinolimprichtia, Tongoloa, Chamesium, Notopterygium, Melanosciadium, Sinocarum, Pternopetalum, Harrysmithia, Carlesia, Haplosphera, Cortiella, Arcuatopterus, Chuanminshenia and Nothosmyrnium*. For centuries many Umbellifer species have been used in Traditional Chinese and Tibetan Medicine, with over 140 species documented. Angelica, Bupleurum, Centella, Changium, Ferula, Glehnia, Heracleum, Ligusticum, Notopterigium and Peucedanum are particularly important as sources of medicine, and many others have culinary uses. The systematic and ethnobotanical diversity seen in China is probably unrivaled elsewhere in the world.

A comprehensive account of the Chinese Umbelliferae has been published in Florae Reipublicae Popularis Sinicae, volume 55 parts 1 (1979), 2 (1985) and 3 (1992), under the editorship of Shan Ren-hwa (now deceased) and Sheh Meng-lan. The current project forms part of the international Flora of China Project, drawing on Umbellifer experts around the world to produce an English revision in a concise form. Illustrations are not included in the Flora of China, however, the plates in the FRPS will be republished, with ammendments, in a companion series. 

The World Umbellifer Database is being used to store nomenclature, type specimen, bibliography and distributional data. It is planned to make this information available as a Internet searchable dataset on completion of the work. 

*Some of these are now known to also occur in the E Himalaya, and so are not true endemics within the political borders of the People's Republic of China. 

Language
English with Chinese vernacular names.

Authors
Chinese Co-authors 
Sheh Meng-lan, Nanjing, P.R. CHINA
Pan Ze-hui, Nanjing, P.R. CHINA
Pu Fa-ding, Chengdu, P.R. CHINA
Western Co-authors 
Mark Watson, Western co-cordinator, Edinburgh, U.K.
John Cannon, London, U.K.
Eugene Kljuykov, Moscow, RUSSIA
Tatyana Lavrova, Moscow , RUSSIA
Rick Phillipe, Illinois, U.S.A.
Michael Pimenov, Moscow , RUSSIA

Scheduling
The first drafts (in English) have been submitted by the Chinese co-authors. These are currently undergoing a period of revision between the Western co-authors and their Chinese counterparts. It is expected that most of the revisions will be complete by the end of 1998, and the manuscript will then be available for regional reviewers. The Umbelliferae will be published in Volume 14, together with the Ericaceae, Cornaceae, Diapensiaceae, Clethraceae and Pyrolaceae. Some of these families are not in such an advanced stage of preparation, and so the expected publication date of the volume is the estimated as end of 2000. 

Publications arising from this work
Mark F. Watson, an Internet dataset of a Preliminary Itinerary for Jean Marie Delavay in Yunnan, China