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 Appearance:
Plant spends one or more years in rosette stage, blooms under favorable
conditions, and then dies. Grows 6" high in the rosette stage and
4' high on stout, grooved stems in the flowering stage. Leaves:
Alternate; leaf is made up of 5-15 egg-shaped leaflets along both
sides of a common stalk; leaflets sharply-toothed or lobed at the
margins; upper leaves smaller. Flower:
Flat-topped broad flower cluster 2-6" wide, numerous five-petaled
yellow flowers. Blooms from June to late summer. Seed:
Small, flat, round, slightly ribbed, straw-colored and abundant; takes
3 weeks to ripen before they can reseed; viable in the soil for 4
years. Root:
Long, thick, edible taproot. |
Well established prairies
are not likely to be invaded by wild parsnip, but it readily moves
into disturbed habitats, along edges or in disturbed patches. It invades
slowly, but once the population builds it spreads rapidly and can severely
modify open dry, mesic, and wet-mesic habitats. It is primarily a
problem in southeastern Minnesota in prairies and oak openings. A
native of Europe and Asia this plant has escaped from cultivation.
It is grown as a root vegetable, and is common throughout the U.S. |
 Wisconsin
Manual of Control Recommendations for Ecologically Invasive Plants,
1997 |
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