EPISODE 373 THE DEATH OF POISONOUS PARSNIP PLANT JUNE 2021
alan skeoch
June 2021
Were we overcautious? That thought occurred to me as I waited for Andrew to arrive
with his jump suit and rubber gloves…and a lethal knife to cut the throat of
the poison parsnip which had overtaken the perennial garden. Seemed to
me that the plant had been growing elsewhere with minimal attention.
Then I took another look at the injuries the wild parsnip did to exposed flesh.
Huge gross fluid filled blisters. The chemical that oozed from the wild parsnip
is the same or very similar to the chemical oozes from giant hogweed. Capable
of causing blindness and even death.
Andrew arrived. Dressed in coveralls… no exposed flesh; Like a skilled butcher
he slit the throat of the parsnip and carefully stuffed all of the plant into a large
plastic bag. “we could just leave here and lt the sun look it but better for uou
to put it in the garbage.” Then he was gone. I could have done that myself.
The root was large…a parsnip. Apparently the root is edible. Should I open
the bag and get the root. Boil the parsnip up into some kind of parsnip soup?
Then serve it to friends?
Hold on! I will throw the plastic bag on Brad Schneller’s lawn! He likes parsnips.