More roadside flowers

They're beautiful, but ... Look, but don't touch. Even if it's a carrot. Or at least, a typical member of the carrot family. But this one can cause blisters and a rash if the sap that gets on your skin is exposed to sunlight.

Cow parsnip. So called, because it has been used as fodder for livestock; they can touch it with no problems. And parsnips are another one of the carrots.

Cow parsnip umbels. Heracleum maximum. The largest carrot native to this continent.

These are large plants, growing up to 3 metres tall. The leaves may be up to 40 cm. across.

Apart from the size, these are typical carrot plants, like the Queen Anne's Lace that blooms along our shores, the Angelica by my driveway, the parsley that has gone wild in my garden. And parsnips, of course. And celery, if it's allowed to bolt. They all produce these wide clusters of tiny flowers, white or yellow. (Queen Anne's Lace includes a single black or purple flower in the centre of its umbel.)

The much larger relative of these is the Giant Hogweed, an import from Europe. Toxic to humans, invasive, and huge; it grows up to 5 metres tall. Wondering if the one you're looking at is a Giant or a Cow Parsnip? Look at the leaves; the leaves of the Giant Hogweed are deeply toothed, all jagged edges. The Cow Parsnip leaves are more like big, rough Big-Leaf Maple leaves. And the Giant Hogweed's flower umbels can be a metre across.

A polite, sort of tame carrot family member; parsley, in my garden. The same structure, but much smaller. And good in salad and sauces.

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Otra flor que en este mes decoran las carreteras; Heracleum maximum. Míralas, pero no las toques. Aunque es otra de las zanahorias; un miembro típico de la familia Apiaceae. Pero esta planta puede causar urticarias y ampollas si la savia hace contacto con la piel y luego se se expone a la luz solar.

La pastinata de vaca; se ha usado como forrage para el ganado; a las vacas no les causa ningún daño.

    1. Las flores de pastinata de vaca. Esta es la planta de la familia más grande entre las que son nativas en este continente.

    2. Son plantas muy grandes; pueden medir hasta 3 metros, y las hojas se extienden hasta 40 cm. 

Aparte de su tamaño, se parecen a las otras plantas de las zanahorias. tales como la zanahoria silvestre, Daucus carota, (aquí la llamamos Encaje de la Reina Ana), como la Angélica en mi entrada, o el perejil que se ha instalado en mi jardín. O el cilantro, el apio, y otras. Todas tienen esas umbelas con flores pequeñas, blancas o amarillas. (La zanahoria silvestre incluye una sola flor negra o morada en el centro de la umbela.)

El pariente mucho más grande, una planta importada desde Europa, es el Perejil Gigante, Hereacleum mantegazzianum, aquí llamada Hierba de Puercos Gigante. Esta planta es muy tóxica para los humanos, invasora, y enorme; llega hasta 5 metros de altura. ¿Te preguntas si la planta que ves es una de estas o la pastinata de vaca? Mira las hojas; las hojas del Gigante  tienen lóbulos profundamente cortados, muy quebrados. Las hojas de la pastinata de vaca se parecen más a las del arce de hoja grande, pero algo ásperas. Las umbelas de flores del Gigante pueden medir hasta un metro de diámetro.

    3. Un miembro de la familia domesticada, muy gentil. Perejil en mi jardín. Tiene la misma forma que la pastinata grande, pero disminuida. Y va muy bien en ensaladas y salsas.

Down by the riverside

Promissory notes.

Huckleberry flowers. If there are pollinators, there will be red berries in mid-summer.

Early shoots of red elderberry. A fast grower; the white flowers will be along in short order.

Cow parsnip has a lot of growing to do, big flower heads to build.

Another salmonberry flower, with a couple of buds. Will the berries be orange or red? Check back later.

The first flower buds of miners' lettuce, aka spring beauty, soon to line the trails with a dusting of white stars.

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Promesas ...

1. Las flores de arándanos rojos (huckleberry, Vaccinium parvifolium). Si se  presentan los insectos polinizadores, habrá bayas rojas a medio verano.
2. Las primeras hojas de saúco rojo (Sambucus racemosa). Este arbusto se desarrolla rapidamente; pronto aparecerán las flores blancas, seguidas en poco tiempo por las bayas rojas.
3. La pastinata de vaca, Heracleum maximum, es una planta bastante grande; hasta estos primeros brotes son grandes, las umbelas de flores blancas también lo serán.
4. Otra flor de salmonberry. Las frutillas serán o rojas o anaranjadas.
5. Los primeros botoncitos de Claytonia sibirica, "la lechuga del minero". Las flores en poco tiempo pintarán los bordes del camino de blanco.

Another look at the cow parsnip

One last item from the trails on the north side of the river. For now.

The last week in May, I posted photos of cow parsnip along a logging road, wondering at the time whether they were the native cow parsnip, or the invasive hogweed. The flower heads were still wrapped up in their sheaths or barely trying to break out.

One week later, the 2nd of June, I went back. And the flowers are in bloom.

Flower cluster.

The guide books call this structure an "umbel". Because it looks like the ribs of an umbrella. The cow parsnip umbels are flat-topped and up to 30 cm. across.

Again, thinking of hogweed: the hogweed umbels are much larger, up to 80 cm. across, with many umbellules (smaller, side umbels), and slightly rounded.

Giant hogweed flower head. Photo from Invasive Species Centre

A sample leaf of the cow parsnip. Divided into three lobed leaflets.

After much discussion on Field Naturalists of Vancouver Island, we decided this is definitely cow parsnip. I'm glad; hogweed is horrible stuff, and so very invasive.

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Y otra mirada a lo que vi en los senderos al norte del rio. Bueno, por ahora. Regresaré.

La última semana de mayo subí fotos de la pastinata de vaca que crece en un camino de servicios forestales; en ese tiempo no estaba segura si era pastinata de vaca o hierba gigante de puerco, que es una planta invasiva. Las flores todavía no se abrían; estaban envueltas en sus vainas.

Una semana más tarde, el segundo de junio, regresé. Y las flores estaban abriéndose.

Foto: Una cabeza de flores.

Los libros guía llaman esta estructura una umbela, porque se parece a las varillas de un paraguas (umbrella en inglés, en latín, umbella). Las umbelas de la pastinata de vaca miden hasta 30 cm. de diámetro, y en la parte superior están planas.

Pensando otra vez en la hierba de puerco, sus umbelas son mucho más grandes, hasta de 80 cm. de diámetro, tienen muchas umbelitas, y son un poco redondeadas.

Foto: flores de hierba gigante de puerco, del Centro de Especies Invasivas, Canada.

Tercera foto: una hoja de la pastinata de vaca. Se divide en tres hojuelas con sus lóbulos.

Después de larga discusión en el sitio de Naturalistas del Campo de la Isla de Vancouver, decidimos que esta, la planta que encontré se puede confirmar que es pastinata de vaca. Me alegra; la hierba de puerco es horrible, y ¡tan invasiva!

Which is it?

Cow parsnip or hogweed? I've been reading page after page of descriptions, and I'm still not sure either way.

These big plants, still half-grown and already taller than me, are growing along a road through a swampy area. Some are starting to open their flower heads ...

Heracleum sp. Big, lobed, toothed leaves, wrapped flower head.

Flower head starting to emerge. Sheathed leaf base.

There are going to be a lot of flowers. Note purple stripes.

Flowers starting to open. Those are big leaves, already over a foot long.

Hairy stalk, purple spots, hairy base to leaf sheath.

Three plants below the bank. These are taller than me.

Ok, here's the thing:

Cow parsnip, Heracleum maximum, has large, lobed, toothed leaves, with hairy undersides when young. (These don't look hairy.)

Giant hogweed, Heracleum mantegazzianum, has larger, hairless (except for the ribs), lobed, deeply incised, toothed leaves. But they are extremely variable.

Cow parsnip grows from 1 to 3 metres tall. These youngsters are already about 2 metres.

Hogweed can reach up to 4.5 metres.

Both cow parsnip and hogweed have large, flat-topped flower clusters.

Cow parsnip has stout, hairy, green stems. But they may have some purple markings.

Hogweed has stout, very hairy green stems with purple splotches, and a circle of hairs at the base of the leaf stalk. These have purple splotches on their stems.

And this is the important thing:

Both cow parsnip and giant hogweed can cause phototoxic skin rashes and blistering if touched and then the skin is exposed to sunlight. Hogweed is worse, but both are dangerous.

If the plant (cow parsnip) touches your skin, immediately wash the area with soap and water and protect from sunlight for 48 hours. (DEC/NY)

Giant hogweed is an invasive plant listed as noxious throughout the province of BC according to the BC Weed Control Act Regulation. Currently it’s found in the Lower Mainland, Fraser Valley, Gulf Islands, and central to southern Vancouver Island. (BCInvasives)

Cow parsnip is common, but a native species, not invasive.

From Invasive Species Council of BC, a description of Giant Hogweed:

Giant hogweed is easily differentiated from other species due to its unusually large size. Multiple umbrella-shaped clusters of white to light pink flowers can be up to 80 cm across on a single stem. Stems are hairy, green with purple blotches, 5-10 cm in diameter and up to 5 m tall. Its leaves are dark green, coarsely toothed, deeply incised leaves. Leaves are alternate. The lower leaves are up to 3 m long and 1.7 m wide and coarsely toothed. Upper leaves on the flowering stem become smaller. The upper leaf surface is smooth, but the underside is covered in bristles.

And I am still undecided because of the smaller size (but they're still young). But I did not touch any of these plants.

Giant hogweed. Photo from BCInvasives

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¿Cuál es? ¿Pastinata de vaca, o hierba gigante de puerco? He leido muchas páginas describiendo las características de ambas, y no me puedo decidir.

Estas plantas, todavía a medio crecer, y ya pasando los dos metros de altura, crecen al lado del camino que atraviesa un terreno pantanoso. Algunas empiezan a abrir sus umbelas de flores.

Fotos:

1. Hojas grandes, flores envueltas en una vaina.
2. Las flores empiezan a salir. El tallo de la hoja también lleva vaina.
3. Habrán muchas flores. Hay que notar las rayas de color morado.
4. Las flores se abren un poco. Esa hoja mide más de 30 cm.
5. El tallo lleva pelos y tiene manchas y rayas de color mora, además de la vaina.
6. Tres plantas que crecen desde más abajo; pasan de los 2 metros.

Bueno, esto es el problema:

La pastinata de vaca, Heracleum maximum, tiene hojas grandes, divididas en lóbulos, dentadas, con pelos en la parte inferior cuando son nuevas. (Estas no parecen tener pelos.)

La hierba "de puerco", Heracleum mantegazzianum, tiene hojas aun más grandes, divididas en lóbulos, muy dentadas, sin pelos aparte de en las venas. Pero son extremadamente variables.

La de vaca crece hasta de 1 a 3 metros. Estas plantas nuevas ya llegan a los 2 metros.

La de puerco llega hasta 4.5 metros.

Tanto la pastinata de vaca como la hierba de puerco producen grandes umbelas de flores blancas.

La pastinata de vaca tiene los tallos gruesos, peludos, y verdes. Pero algunos tienen rayas de color morado.

La hierba de puerco tiene los tallos gruesos, muy peludos, y con manchas y rayas de color morado. Llevan un círculo de pelos a la base del tallo de cada hoja. Estas tienen las manchas de color mora.

Y esto es lo importante:

Ambas plantas causan erupciones en la piel:

(De la pastinata de vaca) Los tallos y las hojas contienen furocumarinas, sustancias químicas responsables de la erupción característica de las vesículas eritematosas (ampollas similares a quemaduras) y la posterior hiperpigmentación que se produce después de que la savia transparente llegue a la piel. El químico es fotosensible,​ y la erupción ocurre solo después de la exposición a la luz ultravioleta. (Wikipedia)

Las erupciones causadas por la hierba de puerco son más severas, pero ambas son peligrosas.

La hierba gigante de puerco es una planta invasiva, reconocida como nociva en toda la provincia de BC, según reglamento del Acta de Control de Hierbas de BC. Ahora se encuentra en el valle del Fraser, las islas del Golfo, y la Isla de Vancouver, desde el centro hasta el sur. (BCInvasives)

La pastinata de vaca es común, pero es una especie indígena, no es invasiva.

Del Concilio de Especies Invasivas de BC, hay una descripción:

La hierba gigante de puerco se distingue de otras especies facilmente por su tamaño grande. Muchas umbelas de flores blancas o color de rosa claro en un solo tallo pueden medir hasta 80 centímetros de diámetro. Los tallos son peludos con manchas color mora, de 5 a 10 cm. de diámetro y hasta 5 metros de altura. Las hojas son verde oscuro, gruesamente dentadas, divididas en lóbulos marcados. Las hojas se alternan en el tallo. Las hojas inferiores miden hasta 3 metros de largo y 1.7 m. de ancho y muy dentadas. Las hojas superiores en los tallos con flores son más chicas. La parte superior de la hoja es lisa, pero la parte inferior lleva cerdas. 

Y sigo sin decidirme, por el tamaño no tan grande de estas plantas. (Pero son nuevas.) Pero por cierto, no toqué ninguna.

7a foto: hojas de la hierba de puerco de parte de Especies Invasivas de BC.

All decked out in pink and green

I walked this afternoon along the trail beside the Campbell River. It's mostly deep shade, under the shadow of steep banks, covered overhead by tall evergreens. Later, it will be darker; for now, the maples are still leafless, and the forest, under the canopy, is still open. New leaves of budding salmonberry and huckleberry shrubs glow where they catch a ray of sunlight.

And the floor is patterned in pink, white, and green; the first spring flowers are blooming while there is still some sunlight. Pink fawn lilies are everywhere; there are bleeding hearts and trilliums, delicate pink and white slender toothworts, huckleberry buds and salmonberry flowers.

A mixed patch.

In this patch I see pink fawn lilies, piggy-back plants, false lily of the valley leaves, cow parsnip, fairy bells, herb robert, evergreen ferns, and one other plant that I should recognize but don't at the moment. Of these, only the fawn lilies are blooming; the others will be along soon.

Hooker's fairy bells, getting ready to flower.

Piggy-back plant, Tolmiea menziesii, in bud.

Piggy-backing leaf

Cow parsnip leaves. Below, bleeding heart leaves.

The cow parsnip will be a large plant, overshadowing the earlier-blooming flowers.

Tomorrow; trilliums and more pink fawn lilies: there are so many fawn lilies!

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Caminé esta tarde al lado del rio Campbell. Este terreno está por gran parte del año en la penumbra; el cerro, muy empinado, limita las horas en que le llega el sol, y los árboles de hoja perenne, allá arribe, mantiene todo en sombra. Por ahora, los arces de hoja grande siguen sin hojas, así que dejan penetrar un poco de sol; en el sotobosque las hojitas nuevas de los arbustos de mora de salmón y de huckleberry (arándano rojo) brillan como lucecitas donde les alcanza uno que otro rayo de sol.

Y el suelo lleva un tapete de colores; blanco, verde, y color de rosa. Las primeras flores de la primavera se apuran a salir mientras todavía hay sol. Hay lirios de cervato, color de rosa, por todas partes; están en flor los corazones sangrantes y los trilios, y las tiernas flores de toothwort ("hierba de dientes") en rosa o blanco. Un poco más arriba, se ven las flores de salmonberry y huckleberry.

Fotos:

1. Un grupo mixto de plantas: lirio de cervato, Tolmiea menziesii (piggyback plant), lirio del valle falso, pastinaca de vaca, campanas de hada, hierba roberto, helechos perennes, y una planta que debo reconocer pero en el momento se me escapa.
2. Campanas de hada,Disporum hookeri.
3. Tolmiea menziesii, con botones de las flores.
4. Otra, con su hojita nueva de cuestas.
5.  y 6. pastinaca de vaca, Heracleum lanatum.  Éste va a ser una planta grande, dejando los demás en la sombra.

Mañana habrá foto de los trilios. Y más de los lirios de cervato. ¡Hay tantos!

Hercules

This month, the ditches along the highway going north from Campbell River are full, carpeted in green, yellow, and white. The yellow, unfortunately, is the horribly invasive Scotch broom; the white is cow-parsnip, which belongs here.

Common cow-parsnip, Heracleum maximum, aka H. lanatum.

The genus name Heracleum (from "Hercules") refers to the very large size of all parts of these plants. (Wikipedia)

The flower umbels are usually flat-topped, the leaves large and divided into 3 toothy segments.

I have some difficulty distinguishing the smaller members of the carrot family, such as Queen Anne's lace, Angelica, etc., all with similar flowers and small leaves, but usually growing in different environments. Cow-parsnip is like them, but the leaves are large to huge, coarse, with a swollen base to the stalk. The plant can be anywhere from 1 to 3 metres tall, taller where the ground is damper. It grows on stream banks, in wet ditches, water meadows. And alongside roads in this damp climate.

To the casual observer, many members of the parsley family (Apiaceae) look similar. Many have white umbels of flowers and dissected leaves. Close inspection, however, shows noticeable differences in leaf shape (amount of dissection), flower (umbel) size, and habitat preferences. When identifying species in this family, habitat should be the first separator (wet or dry sites). In southwestern BC, cow parsnip is most easily confused with smaller plants of giant hogweed (Heracleum mantegazzianum), but may be separated from that species by its generally smaller size, leaf shape (it sports 3 distinct leaflets), and fruit shape. It may also be mistaken for poison hemlock (Conium maculatum). However, poison hemlock is generally much smaller than giant hogweed, with fern-like leaves and smaller flower umbels. Cow parsnip may also be mistaken for other wet-loving members of the Apiaceae, so care should be taken in the identification. (E-Flora BC)

The young stems are edible: coastal peoples peeled them and ate them raw or boiled. It was important to peel them; the leaves and the outer peel of the stems contain furanocoumarins, which can cause skin irritation and blisters on sunny days. (It needs the combination: exposure to the poison, plus ultraviolet light.)

Flower head, from above, with assorted flies.

Either there are no furanocoumarins on the flowers, or the flies aren't bothered by them.

Wet feet

Campbell River is a long strip of a town; it stretches some 20-odd kilometres along the shore, but at its widest spot, it's barely 2 km. wide. Going east from my place, within minutes I'm off the pavement, driving on meandering, pot-holed gravel roads, seemingly going somewhere, but as often as not petering out into trailheads or just stopping in the middle of the bush, as if the road builders finally ran out of gas.

I love these roads. Even when the potholes are deep enough to hold goldfish, even when I have to crawl along at barely walking pace to keep my teeth in my head, even when I have no idea where I am -- I forgot my GPS again! Because the slower I have to go, the more I get to see. Birds and plants and beckoning trails and unexpected viewpoints; I keep having to park and walk about a while before I drive on.

On the Iron River Road ( I could never find the Iron River on the map, but for a while the road parallels something called the Lower Lost Frog. I couldn't find the poor frog, either; maybe he's in the Iron River.) ... the road is built up to cross a shallow, muddy pool, mostly mud on one side of the road, deeper water on the other. There, a celery-like plant grows in abundance, with its feet in the water, or entirely underwater.

These are completely submerged.

And these have their feet in water.

Zooming in. I think these are Pacific water-parsely, Oenanthe sarmentosa.

This is a perennial in the carrot family. Later it will have clusters of white flowers, similar to those of Queen Anne's Lace, but it's a water lover, growing in bogs and sloughs, along creeks and marshes.

Closer to home on the same road, but out in the open at the edge of the road, I passed a clump of another carroty plant, the cow-parsnip, Heracleum lanatum.

(UPDATE) Dave Wenning, on Twitter, identified this as Petasites frigidus var. palmatus, the Palmate Coltsfoot. The stem leaves and the hint of pink in the flowers fit the coltsfoot better, although the plants were taller than the 20 cm. given as the maximum height. The photo on Wikipedia doesn't look right, but the drawing does.

The tallest of these were only knee-high. It's early in the season.

But they're all blooming already.

And the soldier beetles are busy pollinating.

This plant is sometimes confused with the extremely poisonous water-hemlock. Plants of Coastal British Columbia gives a helpful tip: the lateral leaf veins of the hemlock end at the base of the teeth along the edge of the leaves; in cow-parsnip and other "carrotty" plants, they end at the tip. (Look at the first photo, above.)

More roadside plants, tomorrow.

Remembering Summer

Cow Parsnip at Reifel Island

Boundary Bay: Front Row Seating

Boundary Bay: Red Kite