Wild Parsnip - Pastinaca sativa

An erect, medium to tall, strong smelling, hairy plant. Stem angled or ridged. Leaves pinnate, with 5 to 11 oval, lobed and toothed segments. Flowers yellow 1.5 mm in umbels with 9 to 20 unequal rays.

Yellow flowers; hairy; leaves 1-pinnate; fruits flattened, rounded, with low ridges

Photo of the plant in its habitat

Rough grassy places, usually on dry calcareous soils.

Late June to August.

Biennial.

Occasional but widespread in central and southern England, local and often coastal elsewhere.

Mainly found in the north east of Leicestershire and parts of Rutland, just a few records from railway verges elsewhere in VC55. In the 1979 Flora survey of Leicestershire it was found in 61 of the 617 tetrads.

In the current Checklist (Jeeves, 2011) it is listed as Native, calcareous soils, locally frequent