COW PARSNIPS RASH HOW TO

Cow parsnip is native to boreal North America and East Asia it is found throughout most of Canada, with the exception of Nunavut.

Habitat and Range: Streambanks, shorelines, moist low ground, and moist to wet roadsides. When mature, the schizocarps break apart, shedding the individual mericarps. Mericarps are marked with 4 dark brown oil tubes (vittae) that extend about halfway down the outer surface and 2 shorter oil tubes on the inner surface. Each mericarp is flat, obovate (with a small depression at the top), and 7-12 mm long. The 2 mericarps are held together at the top by the enlarged stylopodium and are attached to the flowering stalk (pedicel) by a small 2-branched structure called a carpophore. Fruits are numerous, occur in large flat-topped clusters, and mature in late summer. Flowers bloom in late spring to early summer.įruit: The light brown dry fruits (schizocarps) are composed of 2 flat portions (mericarps), each containing a single seed. The outer petals of flowers at the edge of each umbel are enlarged and deeply divided into 2 lobes other petals are unlobed. Flowers are somewhat fragrant, have 5 small inconspicuous calyx lobes, 5 white petals, 5 stamens, and an inferior ovary of 2 carpels, topped by the enlarged nectar-secreting base (stylopodium) of the 2 styles. Individual flower stalks (pedicels) are 8-20 mm long. Inflorescences are terminal or in the upper leaf axils, subtended by 5-10 small bracts, and have 15-30 main branches (rays) that support smaller umbels, each subtended by an involucel of smaller bracts. Leaflet bases are broad to slightly cordate, lateral leaflet bases may be asymmetric tips of the lobes are sharply pointed (acuminate), and margins are coarsely toothed (serrate).įlowers: White, numerous, and borne in large flat-topped clusters (compound umbels), 10-20+ cm across. Each leaflet is irregularly cut (incised) into 3 or more lobes the terminal leaflet is somewhat longer and wider than the 2 stalked lateral leaflets. Petioles are broad and expanded (inflated) at the base, enclosing the developing leaves or flowers. Leaves: Basal and cauline (alternate), large and compound, divided into 3 main leaflets (ternately compound), 1.5-6 dm long and wide, and stiffly hairy on the lower surface. Stems may occasionally be purplish, but they are not spotted, nor are areas with purplish colouration raised into bumps, as in giant hogweed.

Stems: Non-woody (herbaceous), erect, hollow, and 1-5 cm in diameter stems are ribbed, usually green, and covered with short stiff hairs.

COW PARSNIPS RASH HOW TO

Parents should teach their children how to recognize this plant and avoid it, as it often grows along the shorelines of ponds and streams. Boots, long sleeves, and long-legged pants should be worn if walking through stands of cow parsnip. Warning: The sap of cow parsnip contains phototoxic compounds (furocoumarin) that can produce a type of rash called phytophotodermatitis (PPD). General: A stout perennial herb, 1-3 m tall.

Cow parsnips rash