Fræðaþing landbúnaðarins - mar. 2011, Blaðsíða 264

| FRÆÐAÞING LANDBÚNAÐARINS 8, 2011264
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Magnus Göransson1*, Svein Solberg2, Agnese Kolodinska Brantestam2
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
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Angelica is a tall herbaceous plant belonging to the Apiaceae family. It is a monocarpic
crosspollinated species, however not selfincompatible (Ojala, 1986). Long distance
seed dispersal is mostly by water and the seeds can remain buoyant for more than 300
days (van den Broek  2005). The distribution of angelica ranges from Greenland in
the west, Iceland, the Faroe Islands, Fennoscandia over Russia into the eastern parts of
Siberia. It grows as far south as Central Germany, the Altai and Lake Baikal, with some
occurrence also in the Himalayas (Ojala, 1984).   is divided into two
subspecies:   ssp.  and   ssp. 
(Wahlenb.) Thell. There is inconsistency in the proposed distribution of the subspecies
(Mossberg & Stenberg, 2003; Jonsell  , 2009). Jonsell & Karlsson (2010) propose
that all angelica in Iceland is  ssp. . Mossberg & Stenberg
(2003) have a divergent distribution map, where all Icelandic angelica is stated to be 
 ssp. whereas Hultén (1971) reports both subspecies as distributed
in Iceland. Tyler   (2007) reports that the two subspecies intercross where
distribution overlaps.

Angelica is one of the oldest cultivated plants of origin in the Nordic region. Written
records of angelica date back to the Norwegian  law from the 11th century
where theft of angelica was penalised (Fosså, 2004). The first vegetable gardens in
Norway were called leek or angelica gardens; later they were followed by kale gardens
(Fægri, 1951). In western Norway around the region Voss in Hordaland, a variety of
angelica, ´Vosskvann´, with solid petioles is still scarcely cultivated. It reportedly has
higher sugar content than  ssp. (Fægri, 1951). Its history of
origin is not known, but it is likely a result of long time of selection from wild angelica
populations; Fægri (1951) proposed to call the ecotype  ssp. 
var. . Collection of wildgrowing angelica is mentioned in the Icelandic
  (Fosså, 2004) indicating that its uses were well known when it was
written in the 13th century. Even though angelica, given its abundance and wide
distribution in Iceland, is likely to have grown on Iceland before settlement, it is not
unlikely that settlers brought plant material with them on their journeys from Norway to
Iceland, the Faroe Islands and Greenland (Fosså, 2004). If this was the case, angelica
persisting on historically important sites may have a different genetic background as
compared with isolated Angelica populations from the interior of Iceland.

The aims of the current genetic diversity study are (1) to assess diversity within and
between angelica populations of different origin, (2) study genetic relationships between
the subspecies   ssp.  and   ssp. ,