Angelica archangelica (angelica)

Angelica archangelica is native to north and northeast Europe, Russia, Iceland, Greenland and the Himalayas. It is also widely cultivated and frequently naturalised in northern temperate regions, including the UK.

Angelica archangelica (Image: Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license)

Angelica is an aromatic, perennial herb that grows up to 2 m tall. It has a thick taproot and bright green, hollow stems, which are sometimes tinged with purple. The leaves are divided into leaflets (2 or 3 pinnate) and are up to 70 cm long with broad sheaths at the base. The flowers are borne in large, globose umbels 10-14 cm across. Each flower is very small (4 mm across) with white or greenish petals. The fruits are small, dry, straw-coloured schizocarps (fruits that split into portions known as mericarps) up to 9 mm long with prominent ridges. Each fruit splits into two mericarps (seed-containing portions), a characteristic of this plant family (Apiaceae).

Angelica is a hapaxanthic perennial, in that each year’s growth dies back to ground level after flowering and fruiting, to be replaced by fresh growth the following year.

Two subspecies of this herb are sometimes recognised. Angelica archangelica subspecies archangelica has a pleasant, more aromatic odour and softer stems that are easily compressed, while A. archangelica subsp. litoralis has a sharper, more pungent odour and harder stems. A. archangelica subsp. litoralis has a more limited, mainly coastal distribution.

All parts of this herb are useful. The root was believed to protect against plague and other infectious diseases as well as easing the symptoms of a range of ailments. The raw stems of angelica are eaten in Scandinavia as a traditional food. The cultivar Angelica archangelica ‘Vossakvann’, named after the Voss area in Norway where it is still grown today,was developed through selection for its sweet-tasting stalks. Leaf stalks can be blanched and eaten like celery, and the leaves can be candied. Angelica is still eaten as a vegetable in Greenland and the Faeroe Islands. The stems and leaf stalks are often candied or cooked with rhubarb, while young flowerheads are eaten in omelettes or grilled. The most common commercial use of angelica today is for the candied stalks produced to create the familiar bright green confectionery used to decorate cakes and trifles. The art of candying is a speciality of the town of Niort in western France. Indeed, most of the angelica grown commercially for the confectionery trade comes from France.

The roots and seeds of angelica are used to flavour liqueurs such as Bénédictine and Chartreuse. 

Kew's Millennium Seed Bank Partnership aims to save plant life world wide, focusing on plants under threat and those of most use in the future. Seeds are dried, packaged and stored at a sub-zero temperature in our seed bank vault.

Description of seeds: Average 1,000 seed weight = 3.9 g.
Number of seed collections stored in the Millennium Seed Bank: Three.
Seed storage behaviour: Orthodox (the seeds of this plant survive drying without significant reduction in their viability, and are therefore amenable to long-term frozen storage such as at the MSB)
Germination testing: 99% germination was achieved with on a germination medium of 1% agar, at and a cycle of a temperature of 21°C during for 12 hours of daylight/, followed by a temperature of 11°C for during 12 hours of darkness.
Composition values: Average oil content = 19.6%. Average protein content = 32.2%.

Angelica archangelica herbarium specimen collected in Kent in 1910 (Image: RBG Kew)

Angelica can be seen growing in the Queen’s Garden adjacent to Kew Palace and in the area adjacent to the Temple of Aeolus.

Pressed and dried specimens of Angelica archangelica are held in the Herbarium, one of the behind-the-scenes areas of Kew. The details of some of these can be seen on-line in the Herbarium Catalogue.

The Economic Botany Collection contains samples of roots, seeds, fruits and oils from angelica.

In 2011, Kew partnered with The Times to produce a show garden to showcase the significance of plants to science and society.

The garden, designed by Chelsea gold medallist Marcus Barnett, featured species chosen to demonstrate both beauty and utility, including medicinal, commercial, and industrial uses to underline the fact that plants are invaluable to our everyday lives – without them, none of us could live on this planet; they produce our food, clothing and the air that we breathe.

Angelica archangelica was one of the species that featured in the garden, which was awarded a Silver Medal.

- Find out more about the 2011 Chelsea Flower Show

- Browse some of the other plants that featured in the garden

Search Kew's databases for more information on this species

The Linnean Collections: An original type specimen of Angelica archangelica from the herbarium of Carl Linnaeus (Swedish botanist and father of modern taxonomy, 1707-1778) can be seen here.