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Cow Parsnip (Hercleum lanatum)

Other names: wild cellery, pushki, pootschki, cow cabbage, masterwort, Indian celery, hogweed.

Caution: Gardeners who try to weed out this prolific plant by hand, or hikers who break too many of the stems, often get afflicted with severe dermatitis. The chemical furanocoumarin (present in the sap and outer hairs) is the culprit, causing sensitivity to light. A severe "sunburn" (complete with redness, blistering and runnign sores) results. This same ailment occures if the unpeeled stems are touched to the face or lips.

Legends: Cow parsnips feature in various legends. In one talek, recounted by Chaarles Gillham in Medicine Men of Hooper Bay, the orphan Niklik embarks on a long kayak journey and encounters a beautiful maiden bathing in a creek. Thinking she would make a good wife, he quietly approaches the woman to embrace her (as is Eskimo custom) only to discover that "instead of a young woman, he held in his arms a tall, slender stalk of the wild celery plant that the Eskimos eat."

	Cow Parsnip Heracleum lanatum		Cow Parsnip Heracleum sphondylium
	Poison Hemlock Cicuta douglasii		Water Hemlock Cicuta mackenzieana
	Angelica sp. Angelica sp.

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