3806 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 
Heracléum 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 
streams. F 
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 ; petiolesstout, 
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 
Fie. 213.— Cow Parsnip (Heracleum lana- the root, when applied to 
tum). Xt * the skin, will quickly draw 
