umbellata

Umbellata is a Latin feminine species epithet used in botanical nomenclature. It indicates that the plant has an inflorescence resembling an umbel, a cluster of flowers or buds that radiate from a common point on the end of a peduncle, often forming a rounded or flat-topped outline. The epithet is derived from the term for an umbrella or shade and is the feminine form of umbellatus (masculine) and umbellatum (neuter). In botanical Latin, the epithet must agree in gender with the genus name.

In taxonomic practice, umbellata serves as a descriptive label rather than a rank. It is applied to species names across many genera to signal the presence of an umbel-like inflorescence. While umbels are characteristic of the Apiaceae (the carrot family) and related groups, the epithet can appear in taxa from a variety of families whenever the inflorescence displays umbeloid symmetry.

Because taxonomic revisions frequently reclassify species and alter genus assignments, a given epithet such as umbellata may be attached to different species over time. The epithet does not convey information about geography, medicinal use, or ecology by itself; it primarily communicates a morphological trait—the umbel-like inflorescence.

Related topics include the concept of the umbel, botanical Latin grammar for epithets, and the conventions of binomial nomenclature.