306 



UMBELLIFERAE (PARSLEY FAMILY) 



performed in late autumn or early spring. Plants that survive to 

 send up flowering stalks should be cut while in bloom. 



COW PARSNIP 



Heracleum landtum, Michx. 



Other English names: Woolly Parsnip, Masterwort. 

 Native. Perennial. Propagates by seeds. 

 Time of bloom: June to July. 

 Seed-time: August to September. 



Range: Labrador to Alaska, southward to North Carolina, Mis- 

 souri, Utah, and California. 

 Habitat : Moist ground ; waste places, sides of ponds, ditches, and 



One of the largest of 

 umbellifers, well named 

 for Hercules, the giant. 

 The huge, fleshy root 

 sends up a stalk four to 

 eight feet tall, sometimes 

 two inches thick at base, 

 deeply ridged and grooved, 

 and wrapped in matted 

 white hair. Leaves large, 

 ternately compound, the 

 segments broadly ovate, 

 sharply toothed, and cut- 

 lobed, stalked, somewhat 

 thin for their size, densely 

 covered on the under side 

 with a network of white, 

 woolly hair; petioles stout, 

 much inflated, and clasp- 

 ing at base. The whole 

 plant has a disagreeable 

 odor, especially when 

 bruised, and the juice is 

 extremely acrid; that of 

 FIG. 213. Cow Parsnip (Heracleum lana- the root, when applied to 

 turn), x J. the skin, will quickly draw 



