102 



THE INDIANA WEED BOOK. 



but once they stool again and produce seed later on. By cutting 

 with the scythe as often as they attempt to bloom all will be de- 

 stroyed in two years. Badly infested meadows should be broken 

 up and then planted to corn or re-seeded. 



64. HERACLEUM LANATUM Michx. Cow 



Parsnip. Masterwort (P. N. 2.) 

 Stem very stout, erect, grooved, woolly, 

 4-8 feet high, often 2 inches thick at base; 

 leaves divided into 3 leaflets which are rather 

 thin, very pubescent beneath, broadly ovate, 

 stalked, sharply toothed, 3-6 inches broad. 

 Flowers white in compound umbels which 

 are 6-12 inches wide. Fruit broadly oval, \ 

 inch long, ilich wide, notched at tip and 

 with club-shaped oil-tubes extending only to 

 middle. (Fig. 68.) 



Common in the northern counties in 

 low meadows and pastures and about the 

 borders of lakes, ditches, etc. ; less fre- 

 quent southward. June-Aug. Rem- 

 edies: repeated mowing or grubbing; 

 cultivation. 



Fig. 68. Branch with umbel and leaf; 

 a, flower; b, fruit; c, cross-section of fruit. 

 (After Watson J 



65. 



PASTINACA SATIVA L. Wild Parsnip. 



Queen Weed. (B. I. 2.) 

 Stem erect, grooved, hollow, branching, 2-5 feet high, from a long 

 conic fleshy root ; lower and basal leaves pinnate or once divided, the seg- 

 ments thin, ovate, obtuse, sessile, sharply cut-toothed; upper leaves much 

 smaller. Flowers yellow in compound umbels, without involucres, the rays 

 and flower stems very slender. Fruit broadly oval, inch long, the ribs 

 not prominent but the oil tubes conspicuous. Seeds whitish, thin, i inch 

 long. 



Common in waste places, especially in moist grounds along rail- 

 ways, borders of marshes, roadsides, etc. June-Oct. The roots are 

 poisonous even after cooking and are sometimes eaten by children 

 with fatal results. Both it and the wild carrot harbor the celery 

 fungus and neither should be allowed to grow anywhere near celery 

 gardens. It is simply an escaped and degenerate form of the 

 garden parsnip, which has become poisonous as a means of pro- 

 tection. Remedies: frequent mowing; cultivation with hoed crops; 

 deep cutting with hoe or spud in late fall or early spring. 



The meadow parsnips, Thaspium trifoliatum L., T. aureum 

 Nutt. and T. barbinode Michx., resemble the wild parsnip but are 

 much smaller, usually without grooved stems and with the fruit 



