Wild Parsnip | Plant Information

Please keep in mind that it is illegal to uproot a plant without the landowner's consent and care should be taken at all times not to damage wild plants. Wild plants should never be picked for pleasure and some plants are protected by law.
For more information please download the BSBI Code of Conduct PDF document.

Plant Data

Flowering Months:

JAN FEB MAR APR MAY JUN JUL AUG SEP OCT NOV DEC

Order:

Apiales

Family:

Apiaceae (Carrot)

Also in this family:

Alexanders, Bladder-seed, Bur Chervil, Burnet-saxifrage, Cambridge Milk Parsley, Caraway, Common Hogweed, Coriander, Corky-fruited Water Dropwort, Corn Parsley, Cow Parsley, Cowbane, Creeping Marshwort, Cumin, Edible Carrot, False Thorow-wax, Field Eryngo, Fine-leaved Water Dropwort, Fool's Parsley, Fool's Watercress, Garden Angelica, Garden Parsley, Giant Fennel, Giant Hogweed, Great Pignut, Greater Burnet-saxifrage, Greater Water Parsnip, Ground Elder, Hartwort, Hemlock, Hemlock Water Dropwort, Hog's Fennel, Honewort, Knotted Hedge Parsley, Lesser Marshwort, Lesser Water Parsnip, Longleaf, Masterwort, Milk Parsley, Moon Carrot, Parsley Water Dropwort, Pepper-saxifrage, Pignut, Pink Masterwort, River Water Dropwort, Rock Samphire, Rough Chervil, Sanicle, Scots Lovage, Sea Carrot, Sea Holly, Shepherd's Needle, Shrubby Hare's-ear, Siberian Hogweed, Slender Hare's-ear, Small Hare's-ear, Spignel, Spreading Hedge Parsley, Stone Parsley, Sulphurwort, Sweet Cicely, Thorow-wax, Tubular Water Dropwort, Upright Hedge Parsley, Whorled Caraway, Wild Angelica, Wild Carrot, Wild Celery, Wild Fennel

Type:

Flower

Life Cycle:

Biennial

Maximum Size:

1 metre tall

Habitats:

Farmland, grassland, meadows, roadsides, wasteland.

Flower:

Yellow, 5 petals

Yellow umbels to 10cm wide, no bracts.

Fruit:

Oval, flat and narrowly winged, up to 7mm long.

Leaves:

Once or twice pinnate, alternate leaves with toothed margins, approximately 40cm in length. The leaflets are broad and sometimes lobed. Similar looking is the subspecies "hortensis" (the Garden Parsnip). Garden Parsnip has a few short, straight hairs, rather than the many long and wavy hairs of Wild Parsnip (Pastinaca sativa ssp. sativa).

Aroma:

Smells pungent, similar to cultivated Parsnip.

Other Names:

Bird's-nest, Common Parsnip, Field Parsnip, Hart's-eye, Poison Parsnip.

Frequency (UK):

Occasionally seen