Kissing Cousins, or Not!

Most of us understand that gardening with plants native elsewhere can have an impact on nearby lands not under cultivation. Two commonly planted root vegetables, the parsnip and the carrot have naturalized in Nova Scotia, reverting to an ancestral state over the generations since they have been first introduced to the continent. They commonly grace our roadsides and fields with their lacy umbels of flowers, one white and the other yellow. The  wild carrot is also called Queen Anne’s Lace. The flower umbels are creamy white. If you look closely, you will often see a single purple flower amidst the white ones. The leaves are fernlike and much divided. Flowers are carried atop a somewhat softly hairy stem. If the plant is dug, its root has a strong scent of carrot, but is probably not palatable.

Wild Parsnip seems to becoming more prevalent in roadsides, vacant lots and in fields. Its flower umbels are yellow and the leaves are pinnately divided (resembling a feather), as well as lobed. A more robust plant than wild carrot, Wild Parsnip should not be handled. All parts of the plant may cause contact dermatitis, resulting in painful blisters. Subsequent exposure to sunlight can result in photosensitivity, with a return to skin lesions, the effects of which resemble those of other cousins, the hogweeds.

For more information on wild parsnip, hogweeds and their look-alikes, visithttp://www.invadingspecies.com/invaders/plants-terrestrial/wild-parsnip/ Also please see the video I posted from an interview conducted by CBC National. https://www.facebook.com/thenational/videos/vb.62680227685/10153038665722686/?type=2&theater

Wild Carrot, photo by Martin Thomas

Wild Parsnip, photo by Martin Thomas