COW PARSNIP 



Heracleum lanatum Michx. 

 CARROT FAMILY 



This lusty perennial of decorative character is widely distri- 

 buted, from Newfoundland to Alaska, and south from North 

 Carolina to California, but reaching its greatest profusion in the 

 North where one of the rivers is named "The Parsnip" because of 

 the abundance of the growth of this plant on its banks. In the 

 open it grows three or four feet high, and almost as many wide, 

 while in moist, shaded places it stretches up eight feet. It prefers 

 damp soil, as its broad leaf-surfaces indicate. The hollows in 

 these, caused by the waved and curled edges, the shallow channels 

 on the stalks of the lower leaves, and the inflated sheaths on the 

 upper ones, aid in catching rain and conveying it down the stem 

 to the cluster of fleshy roots. 



The white flowers, opening in June and July, are borne in 

 great umbels sometimes a foot across. The outer petals of the 

 outside flowers are enlarged, spreading out where they find room, 

 so making the whole head more conspicuous. Such massing of 

 many minute flowers, in various forms, is common among plants 

 and adds to their beauty and efficiency. In the one under 

 consideration, the large, honey-laden expanse of white attracts 

 many insects, and the flat clusters afford a firm and ample feeding 

 platform for these guests. In return they carry the pollen from 

 one flower to another, and from plant to plant, so bringing about 

 the cross-fertilization necessary to maintain the vigor of successive 

 generations. 



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