Cow Parsnip, Heracleum lanatum, Native Minnesota Wildflower plant, Eloise Butler Wildflower Garden

	Plants of the Eloise Butler Wildflower Garden
	Common Name	Scientific Name	Plant Family	Garden Location	Prime Season
	Cow Parsnip	Heracleum maximum Bartram Older - Heracleum lanatum Michx.	Parsley (Apiaceae)	Woodland	Late spring to Late Summer
Other names and notes	(American Cow Parsnip). Identification is by the very broad cluster of very small white 5-parted flowers in fairly flat-topped umbels that are atop a hairy stem that can be up to eight feet high. The stem is ridged, hollow and usually fuzzy. Flower petals are deeply notched. The flower umbel is compound, composed on 15 to 30 stalked smaller umbels. On the stem the base of the leaf enlarges to a clasping sheath, the leaves having soft hairs and are 3-parted with toothed or palmate leaflets. A plant of moist areas and moist roadsides, the Garden representatives are seen near the bog at the far end of the Woodland Garden. See Eloise Butler's notes below. The genus name, Heracleum, named after Hercules, is fitting for this plant as it is truly the robust giant of the flowered plants that form umbels.


Above: The flower cluster after mid-June (of a typical year)	Above: The individual flower. Note the deep notches in the five petals.	Above: The leaf forming a sheath at the base. Note the stem ridges.


Above: A single flower umbel of stalked flowers	Above: The three-parted palmate leaf.


Above: The fruit of Cow Parsnip is a ovate flattened structure (Right) that when dry separates front to back into two seeds. In a year with an early season, such as 2012, the dry seeds are already forming at the end of June.
Below: The compound flower umbel of Cow Parsnip as seen from below showing the umbrella-like umbels with their individual flower stalks.

Below: Historical Garden Photo - A grouping of Cow Parsnip in the Woodland Garden on June 15, 1953; photo from a Kodachrome by Martha Crone. Photo courtesy Minnesota Historical Society, Martha Crone Collection

Notes: Cow Parsnip is indigenous to the Garden area. Eloise Butler's records show that she obtained plants of this species in 1911 from the area of Glenwood-Inglewood Springs in Minneapolis (which is quite close to the Garden.) Another plant was obtained from the same source on May 16, 1913. It is listed on Martha Crone's 1951 census of plants in the Garden. The plant is found in most counties throughout Minnesota, the exceptions widely scattered. In North America it's range is extensive, being reported in all Canadian Provinces, and in all States except the SE section.

Eloise Butler wrote this about Cow Parsnip: "It seems necessary to write a work in favor of what are usually called weeds, which may be defined as plants out of place, growing where we wish something else to grow. The Cow Parsnip (Heracleum maximum Bartram) shows fine decorative possibilities. A rampant growth of this herb gave character to a certain roadside. Barely an hour after a photograph was taken, the plants were mown down and nothing left in their place by monotonous stubble. A plea is offered for the next season: O scytheman, spare this weed! It is harmless, and does its best to make glad the waste places. It is named for the god Hercules on account of its massive bulk. Compare it with the castor bean occupying the central post of honor in an ornamental mound of flowers. Has it not as vigorous a growth; are not the leaves as large and finely formed and the flowers as beautiful as that of the favored imported canna?" Published in the Minneapolis Sunday Tribune July 2, 1911

Medicinal Lore: In her study of the Minnesota Chippewa, Frances Densmore lists several native uses for this plant, the most important being in the treatment of boils. The root was boiled and then applied as a drawing poultice. Dried root and flowers combined together, also made a poultice without first boiling the root. Secondarily, a decoction made from the dried root was used as a gargle for sore throat. (Ref. #5). Tilford (Ref. #39) reports that the roots are edible but are bitter with a strong taste. Mature green seeds produce a mild anesthetic action when chewed. He also warns that some people are susceptible to dermatitis after handling Cow Parsnip.

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References: Plant characteristics are generally from sources 15, 16, 30, 31, 33, W2 & W3. Distribution principally from W2 and also 31, 34 and W1. Planting history generally from 1, 4 & 4a. Other sources by specific reference. See Reference List for details.

102012