Nature Bulletin No. 413-A   April 3, 1971
Forest Preserve District of Cook County
George W. Dunne, President
Roland F. Eisenbeis, Supt. of Conservation

****:PARSNIPS

In those not-so-good old days, the horse-and-buggy days when electric 
lights, telephones and bathrooms were newfangled luxuries enjoyed 
only by rich city folks, one of our staple root vegetables in wintertime 
was the Parsnip. They were allowed to stay in the ground until very late 
in autumn, or even midwinter, which changed their starches to sugar. 
Then, parboiled, sliced and fried in butter, they had their own never-to-
be forgotten flavor.

The parsnip is a native of southern Europe and has never been grown 
commercially as much as other root vegetables in this country. The 
deep tapering ivory-colored roots are expensive to harvest and, for 
good flavor, must be stored for 2 or 3 weeks in a near-freezing 
temperature. Nowadays they are coated with paraffin wax, before 
shipping, to preserve their freshness. Grown in rich moist soil, the root 
may be as much as 4 inches in diameter at the top and 20 inches long, 
with thread-like rootlets that penetrate much farther.

The garden parsnip does not bloom until the second year when, if its 
root has been left in the ground, it produces flat-topped umbrella-like 
clusters, or umbels, of little yellow flowers. It has escaped from 
cultivation and become a common tall weed along roadsides or in 
vacant lots and waste places in many parts of the United States and 
Canada. Coming in contact with a person's wet skin, the leaves may 
cause blisters and a serious rash. Contrary to common belief, the root of 
this wild parsnip is not poisonous but it should not be used because 
there are several closely related plants, so similar in appearance that 
only an expert can tell them apart, which are very poisonous.

The parsnip belongs to a large family of plants most of which bear their 
flowers in flat-topped umbels -- an exception is the Rattlesnake Master 
or Button Snakeroot native to our midwestern prairies -- and produce 
seeds with corky coats having distinctive odors and flavors. It includes 
the carrot, parsley, celery and several familiar kinds grown for their 
seeds: dill, caraway, anise (licorice flavor), coriander and cumin. It 
includes several very common wild plants such as Fennel, Wild Carrot 
or Queen Anne's Lace, the Golden Alexander or Wild Meadow Parsnip, 
Smooth Sweet Cicely (which tastes strongly of anise oil), and the 
Purple Angelica of which the roots and young shoots have been used 
since colonial days to make candied sweetmeats.

Another member is the Cow Parsnip native in our rich moist 
bottomlands, It is a coarse hairy plant becoming 4 to 8 feet tall with 
stems often 2 inches thick at the base, big broad leaves, white flowers in 
umbels that are 6 to 12 inches across, and a very unpleasant odor. The 
Indians ate the young stems and boiled the roots as we do turnips.

The Water Hemlock or Musquash Root also grows in wet places. Its 
roots, which smell like parsnips, and its seeds, contain a deadly poison 
and many cattle are killed by eating its young shoots in spring. The 
poison Hemlock, closely related, is supposed to have furnished the "cup 
of death" given to Socrates.

Parsnips can also be used to make wine or, as in Europe, delicious soup.