a photo with several yellow flowering umbels of wild parsnip in the foreground, with railway bridge over a creek in the background

Wild Parsnip

Wild Parsnip is one of Kingston's more-than-human neighbours. They've lived here for more than 400 years, brought over by European settlers as a food crop. They're the wild relative of the garden parsnip in your grocery store. When they were replaced by the potato, they moved to the roadsides. They're on Kingston's Prohibited Plants list because their sap contains furanocoumarins that can cause phytophotodermatitis, a sun-activated reaction that mimics chemical burns. Most encounters don't cause a reaction as phytophotodermatitis requires significant sap exposure and direct sunlight.

Wild Parsnip kin card

Most people who encounter Wild Parsnip think danger, not knowing that celery and celeriac carry the same furanocoumarins. The Parsnip Webworm has been co-evolving with Wild Parsnip for over 150 years.

   

    📥 Download Wild Kin Card (PDF, 101KB)  

Wild Parsnip at the planning table

Wild Parsnip's abundance is a diagnosis of disturbance. What if blooming boulevards became the default landscaping choice, leaving no room for Wild Parsnip?

   

    📥 Download Wild Parsnip at the planning table (PDF, 75KB)  

Get to know Wild Parsnip. Return through the seasons. Record what you observe on iNaturalist.

Notice: Next time you pass Wild Parsnip in flower, stop for five minutes and count who visits. In 1928, Charles Robertson counted 298 insect species in five weeks.

Act: Teach your friends not to fear Wild Parsnip. Plant a pocket meadow along the street or in your ditch.

   

    📥 Download Wild Parsnip handout (PDF, 234KB)  

Need help: Little Forests Kingston and 1000 Islands Master Gardeners can help you identify plants, choose the right species for your yard, and connect with neighbours doing the same work.

Get involved: Little Forests Kingston is growing. We're looking for people who want to build relationships with the land and tend them over time. Forest Stewards, Neighbourhood Weavers, Community Scientists, Seed Keepers and more. You don't need to arrive knowing everything. Do any of these roles call to you?