Iowa Agency Issues Wild Parsnip (toxic invasive) Warning

[jpak]

http://www.lasvegassun.com/sunbin/stories/tech/2007/jun/20/062009951.html

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) - Watch your step when you pull off the road. That's the warning from state environmental officials to people who want to avoid a burning, blistering itch that could last for months.

There's an invasive weed that is spreading along highways, and no, it's nothing like its namesake that you will find adorning entrees at a restaurant. The plant is wild parsnip - native to Eurasia and related to the carrot family - and it has a sap that contains chemicals that can cause rashes, blisters, burning and itching.

"If you get off of the mowed areas and into the taller grass areas, you're probably going to come into some contact with wild parsnip," said John Walkowiak, land protection leader with the Iowa Department of Natural Resources.

The invasive species, which sports hundreds of small, yellow flowers that produce large seeds, generally blooms from June to mid-July. Federal officials say the plants can be found across most of the United States except in a small portion of the Southeast. Walkowiak said there's been "a bumper crop the last several years in the Midwest."

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[kestrel91316]

1. Ah - our old friend Conium maculatum, aka poison hemlock.

I remember it well from our poisonous plants class in vet school.....

Socrates met his end with a cup of this hemlock.

If you want parsnips, buy them from a reputable farmer, lol.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poison_hemlock