Also Beware of Wild Parsnip

[KennK]

The post asking about the plant that ended up being Pokeweed reminded me ...

Also be careful to watch for Wild Parsnip. I have some in my pasture in NE Illinois and it is nasty stuff for humans. If you rub bare skin against the leaves it put a solar accelerant on your skin. If you stay outside for some time you'll get burns - nasty burns with blisters that once healed leave your skin darker for a number of years.

It tends to be real big - 6 feet tall when mature. It looks like an overgrown carrot or queen Anne's lace to me, but with yellow floweretts.

Here are some links:

Wild parsnip - Invasive species: Minnesota DNR

Wild Parsnip (Pastinaca sativa)

http://wihort.uwex.edu/landscape/Parsnipfinal1.pdf

It is one nasty plant.

 

[teg]

Thanks for the link... That looks nasty. I asked the wife since we planted something that looks kind of like it Would not be the first plant that we had to kill... and re-kill, again and again!

 

[johntab]

Thank you for posting this.

I've had several encounters with wild parsnip over the years and it is bad stuff. I only discovered the source by stumbling on a thread like this. I tell everyone out where I live not to cut it with a string trimmer. Been there done that!

The best thing to do if you have it is to spray it with Round Up or other herbicide.

The best treatment I found if you get the blisters is to apply extra strength benadryl lotion to it. The last time I had it, the itching started a couple days after I was exposed to it. I started scratching my arm and it looked like I had huge mosquito bites or hives. I started the benadryl treatment and never had the blisters or the discoloration.

I figured out how I got the rash. I was using my tractor and backed into some weeds with the rotary cutter. My right arm was behind the seat with my arm bent. Where ever the skin was exposed I had the rash.

 

[whistlepig]

I have never heard of Wild Parsnip. Sure looks like very nasty stuff. Is this the same thing we call "Stingweed" or "Nettle" around here?

 

[ToadHill]

It looks a lot like an invasive we have around here called "Giant Hogweed", it looks a little like queen ann's lace but will get over 6' high and leaves burns if you touch the sap.

 

[whistlepig]

It looks a lot like an invasive we have around here called "Giant Hogweed", it looks a little like queen ann's lace but will get over 6' high and leaves burns if you touch the sap.

I do know of "Giant Hogweed" and "Qween Ann's Lace" (wild carrot). This is a whole different critter.

 

[KennK]

I have never heard of Wild Parsnip. Sure looks like very nasty stuff. Is this the same thing we call "Stingweed" or "Nettle" around here?

It is not nettle at all. Nettle has tiny thorns. It does its work through physical (stingers) damage and chemical stuff. You know when you've hit them right away. Ouch!! I think of them as kind of a smaller version of raspberry & blackberry branches, though apparently their juices hurt in addition to the stingers.

When you rub up against the wild parsnip it doesn't hurt AT ALL. You won't even know you've rubbed up against it. If you come inside fairly quickly and wash it off - no harm done. BUT if you stay outside in the sunshine for some time - THAT is when you'll get the burns.

 

[pitt_md]

I have never heard of Wild Parsnip. Sure looks like very nasty stuff. Is this the same thing we call "Stingweed" or "Nettle" around here?

Nope different plants, both are a pain in the butt though.

 

[LiamC]

I REALLY don't like the stuff! I have taken to doing any string trimming at dawn, get it done and shower before the sun can cause the blisters. If you have the blisters they will keep oozing for a long time. A local home remedy is to open the blister and swab with bleach. It will dry up.

 

[sargex595]

I got into it a couple of years ago using the string trimmer on the bank by the road. I live in Northern New York on the Vermont border. Didn't know what it was and did one heck of a job knocking it down. I sure was juicey. Found out the hard way, ended up going to the doctors. Found out it was what they call poison parsnip. Told my neighbor farmer about it and he laughed. The next year he told his daughter to go and knock it down with their bushhog before I got my self in trouble again. Never knew about it but since that time, I see it all over the place on ther side of the road. Wish I had known sooner, worst stuff I've ever gotten into.

Curt.