Citation: L., Sp. Pl. 262 (1753) subsp. sativa.

Synonymy: Not Applicable

Common name: Parsnip.

Description:
Stout biennial herb, 30-180 cm high; stem, petiole, upper surface of leaves and rays with sparse short straight hairs; tap-root usually swollen; stem solid or hollow, usually strongly angled; basal leaves petiolate; leaf blades ovate to oblong in outline, usually 1-pinnate; leaflets usually 5-11, oblong to ovate but often narrow, 5-10 cm long, 2.5-8 cm broad, acute or acuminate, often cuneate at the base and more or less pinnatisect in the lower part, coarsely irregularly serrate or crenate-dentate, the teeth with cartilaginous points, deeply pinnately 3-9-lobed, puberulent or glabrous; petiole shorter than the blade; stem-leaves with conspicuously dilated sheaths.

Peduncles stout, 7-15 cm long; umbel 5-20 cm diam.; rays of terminal umbel usually 9-20, usually very unequal, 2-10 cm long, more or less angled; involucral bracts absent or 1 or 2, pinnately lobed; pedicels 5-10 mm long; petals yellow.

Fruit broad-elliptical, 5-7 mm long, 4-5 mm broad; wing 0.25-0.5 mm broad; vittae at the commissure not reaching the ends of the fruit.

Published illustration: Ross-Craig (1959) Drawings Brit. Pl. 13:t. 21; Burbidge & Gray (1970) Flora of the A.C.T., fig. 280.

Distribution:    N.S.W.; Vic.; Tas.   native to Europe and eastwards to the Altai. Conservation status: naturalised Flowering time: Dec. — Feb.

SA Distribution Map based on current data relating to specimens held in the State Herbarium of South Australia

Biology: No text

Uses: P. sativa subsp. sativa is widely cultivated for its edible roots and occasionally escaped and has become naturalised.

Author: Not yet available