1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Alexanders
ALEXANDERS (botanical name, Smyrnium Olusatrum, natural order Umbelliferae), a stout herbaceous plant with a furrowed, much-branched stem 1-3 ft. high, and large compound leaves with broad sheathing stalks, and broad, cut or lobed segments. The small yellow flowers are borne in compound umbels. The plant is a native of the Mediterranean region, and was formerly cultivated as a pot-herb. It is now found apparently wild in Great Britain and Ireland, growing in waste places, especially near the sea and amongst ruins.
In England the plant is sometimes popularly termed "alisander"; in North America "Thaspium aureum is sometimes called "alexanders." "Alexander's foot," botanical name Anacyclus Pyrethrum, is the pellitory of Spain.