Shrubby hare's ear
Bupleurum fruticescens
Family · Apiaceae · Harmless
The umbellifer nobody recognises as one: instead of the family's divided leaves it has entire, narrow, needle-stiff leaves, and it is woody. An exception worth remembering.
Where it grows
Scrubland · Uplands · Roadsides and waste ground
Also known asshrubby thorow-wax
In flower
How to tell it
A woody cushion half a metre tall, with entire, narrow, curved, blue-green leaves showing clear parallel veins. Small umbels of yellow-green flowers in late summer. Little scent, unlike most of the family.
What it is confused with
No dangerous lookalikes known in the Iberian Peninsula.
What it is for
No food use. It counts as a field lesson: it shows that a divided leaf does not define the umbellifer family, and that the umbel is what decides.