Anthriscus sylvestris

{{Short description|Species of flowering plant}} {{Redirect-distinguish-text|Cow parsley|giant cow parsley (Heracleum mantegazzianum), cow parsnip (Heracleum maximum), or French cow parsley (Orlaya grandiflora)}} {{Use British English|date=May 2022}} {{Speciesbox | image = Anthriscus sylvestris TK 2021-05-16 2.jpg | genus = Anthriscus |species = sylvestris | authority = (L.) Hoffm. | synonyms = {{Collapsible list |title = Synonyms list | *''Anthriscus alpina'' (Vill.) Jord. *''Anthriscus candollei'' Rouy & E.G.Camus *''Anthriscus chaerophyllea'' (Lam.) Druce *''Anthriscus dissectus'' C.H.Wright *''Anthriscus elatior'' Besser *''Anthriscus intermedia'' Schur *''Anthriscus keniensis'' H.Wolff *''Anthriscus laevigata'' Griseb. *''Anthriscus nemorosa'' Baker & S.Moore nom. illeg. *''Anthriscus pilosa'' Schur *''Anthriscus procera'' Besser *''Anthriscus torquata'' Duby *''Anthriscus yunnanensis'' W.W.Sm. *''Carum sylvestre'' (L.) Baill. *''Caucalis aequicolorum'' All. *''Cerefolium sylvestre'' (L.) Bubani *''Cerefolium tenuifolium'' Beck *''Chaerefolium sylvestre'' (L.) Schinz *''Chaerophyllum affine'' Steud. ex A.Rich. *''Chaerophyllum alpinum'' Vill. *''Chaerophyllum angulatum'' Kit. ex Spreng. *''Chaerophyllum ateanum'' (Pau) Pau *''Chaerophyllum cadonense'' Schult. ex Steud. *''Chaerophyllum ghilanicum'' Stapf & Wettst. *''Chaerophyllum infestum'' Salisb. *''Chaerophyllum lactescens'' Rochel ex Steud. *''Chaerophyllum sylvestre'' L. *''Chaerophyllum tumidum'' Gilib. nom. inval. *''Myrrhis chaerophylloides'' Hance *''Myrrhis sylvestris'' (L.) Spreng. *''Oreochorte yunnanensis'' (W.W. Sm.) Koso-Pol. *''Peucedanum dissectum'' (C.H. Wright) Dawe }} | synonyms_ref = <ref>{{citation |url=http://www.theplantlist.org/tpl1.1/record/kew-2641868 |title=The Plant List: A Working List of All Plant Species |access-date=20 December 2015}}</ref> }}

'''''Anthriscus sylvestris''''', known as '''cow parsley''',<ref name=TRUST>{{cite web |url=https://www.woodlandtrust.org.uk/trees-woods-and-wildlife/plants/wild-flowers/cow-parsley/ |title=Cow parsley (Anthriscus sylvestris) |website=Woodland Trust |access-date=2021-06-12}}</ref> '''wild chervil''',<ref name=GRIN>{{GRIN | access-date = 15 December 2017}}</ref> '''Queen Anne's lace'''<ref name=TRUST /> or '''keck''',<ref name="GRIN" /> is a herbaceous biennial or short-lived perennial plant in the family Apiaceae (Umbelliferae).<ref>Webb, D.A., Parnell, J. and Doogue, D. 1996. ''An Irish Flora.'' Dundalgan Press Ltd, Dundalk. {{ISBN|0-85221-131-7}}</ref> It is also sometimes called '''mother-die'''<ref name=TRUST /> (especially in the UK), a name that is also applied to the common hawthorn. It is native to Europe, western Asia and northwestern Africa. It is related to other diverse members of Apiaceae, such as parsley, carrot, hemlock and hogweed. It is often confused with ''Daucus carota'', another member of the Apiaceae also known as "Queen Anne's lace" or "wild carrot".<ref name=kingcounty>{{cite web |url=http://www.kingcounty.gov/environment/animalsAndPlants/noxious-weeds/weed-identification/wild-chervil.aspx |title=Wild chervil |publisher=King County}}</ref>

==Description == Cow parsley is an upright herbaceous (non-woody) perennial, growing to {{convert|60|–|170|cm|in|abbr=off}} tall. The stems are hollow, striate (striped with parallel, longitudinal lines), furrowed, and green in colour with flushes of purple, with a diameter up to {{convert|1.5|cm|in|abbr=on}}. It has tiny hairs on the stem, rachis, and leaf stalks which are difficult to see but can easily be detected by touch. The petioles clasp the stem around the base and are broad and flattened with a downy margin. The rachis has a deep grooved channel.

The leaves are triangular, 2–3 pinnate, roughly 30 cm wide and 45 cm long, green, and fern-like or feathery in appearance with hair on the underside. The lowest primary division is much smaller than the rest of the leaf.<ref name=Rose>{{cite book |last1=Rose |first1=Francis |title=The Wild Flower Key |date=2006 |publisher=Frederick Warne |location=London |isbn=978-0-7232-5175-0}}</ref><ref name=Stace>{{cite book |last1=Stace |first1=C.A. |title=New Flora of the British Isles |date=2019 |location=Suffolk |isbn=978-1-5272-2630-2}}</ref>

The flowers are arranged in compound umbels on short pedicels (<1 cm) with a ring of short, stout hairs at the apex.<ref name=Tutin>{{cite book |last1=Tutin |first1=T.G. |title=Umbellifers of the British Isles |date=1980 |publisher=Botanical Society of the British Isles |location=London}}</ref> There are downy oval bractioles with red pointy tips on the umblets, arranged on 4–10 rays 1.5–3 cm long. The rays are glabrous (smooth and hairless), with no bract present. Peduncles are similar in length to rays, more or less glabrous and furrowed. Each flower has 5 white petals, 2 stamens and 2 styles with an enlarged base forming a swelling at the apex of the ovary (stylopodium).<ref name=Sell3>{{cite book |last1=Sell |first1=Peter |last2=Murrell |first2=Gina |title=Flora of Great Britain and Ireland, vol 3 |date=2009 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |location=Cambridge}}</ref>

The main stem meets the roots in a single primary taproot which can branch further below the surface. From the roots lateral rhizomes can form. Flowering time in the UK is April to early June.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Harper |first=Lizzie |date=2021-11-12 |title=Cow Parsley: All about an Umbellifer |url=https://lizzieharper.co.uk/2021/11/cow-parsley-all-about-an-umbellifer/ |access-date=2022-05-11 |website=Lizzie Harper {{!}} Natural history illustration for books, magazines, and packaging}}</ref>

==Taxonomy== The species was first described by Carl Linnaeus in 1753 as ''Chaerophyllum sylvestre''. It was transferred to the genus ''Anthriscus'' by Georg Franz Hoffmann in 1814.<ref name=IPNI_840270-1>{{IPNI|taxon=''Chaerophyllum sylvestre'' |authority=L..|id=840270-1|access-date=2025-01-23|mode=cs1}}</ref>

==Habitat== Cow parsley grows in sunny to semi-shaded locations in meadows and at the edges of hedgerows and woodland. It is a particularly common sight by the roadside and with its frothy early-flowering white blooms is regarded as the most important springtime landscape wildflower in Britain.<ref>Mabey R. 1996. ''Flora Britannica''. Sinclair-Stevenson. {{ISBN|1-85-619377-2}}</ref> However, the plant is also sufficiently common and fast-growing to be considered a nuisance weed in gardens. Cow parsley's ability to spread rapidly by means of rhizomes and to produce large quantities of seeds in a single growing season has made it an invasive species in many areas of the United States. Vermont has listed cow parsley on its "Watch List" of invasive species, while Massachusetts has banned the sale of the plant.<ref>The Massachusetts Prohibited Plant List. [https://www.mass.gov/doc/prohibited-plant-list-sorted-by-scientific-name/download] (Accessed 02/07/2022)</ref> It is classed as a Class B Noxious Weed in the State of Washington since 1989,<ref name=kingcounty/> where its sale is also banned. In Iceland, cow parsley has been classified as an alien invasive species.<ref>[https://www.ni.is/grodur/agengar-plontur Ágengar plöntur (Invasive plants).] Náttúrufræðistofnun Íslands (Icelandic Institute of Natural History. Retrieved on May 2nd 2019. (''In Icelandic'').</ref>

==Uses== All above-ground parts of the cow parsley plant are edible, with a flavour sharper than garden chervil and described as grassy parsley, with a hint of licorice or aniseed. However, it is suspected of being mildly toxic according to some sources.<ref>Cooper MR, Johnson AW. ''Poisonous plants in Britain and their effects on animals and man''. HM Stationery Office {{ISBN|0-11-242529-1}}</ref> The plant is an invasive species in many places outside of its native range. It spreads easily along roads and the edges of woods and fields, so it is not cultivated but instead foraged in the wild. In the UK it is foraged from February to November. However extreme caution is advised when foraging cow parsley because it is easily confused with other species of the Apiaceae family, such as the deadly poison hemlock, hemlock water-dropwort and fool's parsley. Because the plant's flavour is considered unremarkable and the risk is great, foraging cow parsley in the wild is usually strongly discouraged.<ref>{{cite book |title=Foraging Pocket Guide |first1=Marlow |last1=Renton |first2=Eric |last2=Biggane |year=2019 |edition=2020 |isbn=978-1-9999222-2-1 |publisher=Wild Foods UK}}</ref>{{rp|64}}

== Gallery == <gallery> Anthriscus sylvestris (Köhler's Medizinal-Pflanzen).jpg|Illustration from Köhler's Medicinal Plants Anthriscus sylvestris W.jpg Warming-Skudbygning-Fig5-Anthriscus-sylvestris.jpg|The base of a second-year plant in September and a young layer (Warming 1884) </gallery>

== References == {{Reflist}}

== External links == {{Commons}} *{{cite web |url=https://www.pfaf.org/user/Plant.aspx?LatinName=Anthriscus+sylvestris |title=Anthriscus sylvestris |publisher=Plants For A Future}} *{{cite web |url=https://www.wildfooduk.com/edible-wild-plants/wild-chervil/ |title=Wild chervil |publisher=Wild Foods UK}}

Category:Apioideae Category:Edible Apiaceae Category:Herbs Category:Flora of Europe Category:Flora of Western Asia Category:Flora of North Africa Category:Plants described in 1753 Category:Botanical taxa named by Carl Linnaeus