By BROOK KNICK, Soil Conservation Technician
Natural Resources Conservation Service
While driving around, I noticed a lot of blooming yellow flowers standing high above the grasses. The flower stalks were very distinct because they have super flat tops — very unlike golden rod which is also blooming right now. The flat flowers are made of umbrella-like clusters and look like dill flowers or carrot flowers.
These flowers belong to Wild parsnips. Wild parsnips can be dangerous because their juices can cause your skin to be super sensitive to sunlight and blister. Wild parsnips are secondary noxious weeds. This means it is a landowner’s responsibility to control this plant.
Wild parsnip is a member of the carrot family, and the two look very similar. Wild parsnips taproot is yellow to orange in color. It’s edible but said to be very woody. In spring, wild parsnip is one of the first plants to green up. Its fern-like leaves grow as a basal rosette for one or more years before flowering. Leaves arise alternately from the stem.
Its flowering stalk grows up to 5-feet tall. From June to mid-July, flat clusters of yellow flowers crown the stem. The flowers are 2-6 inches wide. These flowers give rise to flat ribbed seeds. Plants die after producing seeds, but the seeds remain viable for up to four years.
Wild parsnips prefer newly sunny disturbed habitats, such as ditches, construction sites, and roadsides. Wild parsnip invades slowly, but once populations build, it can spread rapidly.
Wild parsnip can be controlled by hand pulling and removing plants. If pulling is not an option in our hard-baked clay soils, use a shovel to cut the root below the crown before seed set. After the plant flowers, be sure to remove flowering stalks, so that the plant doesn’t seed out. These stalks should be burned or bagged and sent to the landfill. Wild parsnip can also be spot-treat with herbicide. Do not mow seeded out wild parsnip. This will only cause the seeds to spread.
CAUTION: Wear gloves, a long sleeve shirt and pants when dealing with wild parsnip. Plant sap can cause blistering on the skin if exposed to UV light from the sun.
Parsnip burns often appear as streaks and long spots. This pattern is happens when a juicy leaf or a stem drags across the skin and then gets exposed to the sun. While it might hurt for a while, the burning feeling will go away in a day or two. However, sometimes the area that was burned will take on a dark red or brown discoloration that can last for as long as two years.
Financial assistance for wild parsnip control is available on non-cropland acres through the Environmental Quality Incentives Program. Other assistance may be available through the Lake of the Woods Soil and Water Conservation District. For further information, please contact the SWCD/NRCS office at 218-634-2757 ext. 3.
For more information on wild parsnip, visit http://na.fs.fed.us/fhp/invasive_plants/weeds/wild-parsnip.pdf
If you are unsure if a plant in your yard is a noxious weed, visit the University of Minnesota Extension website at http://www.extension.umn.edu/garden/ Click on “Is this plant a weed” and navigate through the menu.
