Petroselinum crispum (Parsley)

A biennial herb native to northwestern Africa and the Balkan Peninsula, it belongs to the Apiaceae family. It forms a rosette of aromatic, divided leaves, with curly and flat-leaved cultivars. In its second year, branching flower stems can reach two to three feet tall. Tiny greenish yellow flowers develop in compound umbels. The fruits are small and ridged. The leaves are used fresh or dried to flavour food, and some forms are grown for their edible roots. Its foliage also feeds black swallowtail butterfly caterpillars. Photographed in the department of Cundinamarca, Colombia.