The family Apiaceae (Umbelliferae) can be credited with two major landmarks inbotanical history: the first systematic monographic treatment of any plant group(Morison, 1672), and the first international symposium dedicated to systematicresearch on a plant family (Heywood, 1971). The 1970 symposium on the Biologyand Chemistry of the Umbelliferae held at the University of Reading, UK, resultedfrom the large body of research interest in the family around the world at that time,and helped to stimulate further work on the Apiaceae. It also provided a model forsimilar symposia on major plant groups in the years to follow, including Asteraceae(Heywood et al., 1977), Brassicaceae (Vaughan et al., 1976), Lamiaceae (Harley &Reynolds, 1992), Solanaceae (Hawkes et al., 1979), and Fabaceae (Summerfield &Bunting, 1980; Polhill & Raven, 1981). Growing interest in umbellifers soon resultedin a second international symposium on the family held at the Centre Universitairede Perpignan, France, in 1977 (Cauwet-Marc & Carbonnier, 1982). Although a largerole of this second symposium was to review progress on a major co-operativeresearch programme focused mainly on the tribe Caucalideae, participants with otherinterests were also involved, and wider developments in the systematics of the familywere discussed.