Wild Parsnip

Erect annual herb to 60 cm high, sometimes with a perennial rootstock; stems sparingly branched, glabrous.

Leaves mostly towards the base of the plant, 3–5-lobed to dissected, lamina ovate in outline, 2–5 cm long, 3–5 cm wide; segments linear to elliptic, 1–7 mm wide; glabrous to sparsely hairy; petiole 3.5–10.5 c, long.

Umbels 10–25 mm diam. in flower, 20–30 mm diam. in fruit, 80–120 flowered; peduncle 2–12 cm long with glandular hairs at the base, subtended by leaf-like bracts becoming sessile and tri-fid. Bracts 15–18, 4–9 mm long. Flowers bisexual or male. Petals 1.6–1.9 mm long, blue turning white. Ovary unilocular, glabrous or glandular hairy.

Fruit semicircular, 4.5–5.5 mm long, brown; consisting of only one mericarp. Mericarps 3.9–5.5 mm wide, weakly to strongly papillate; the papillae terminated by glandular trichomes, often breaking off.