Wild Parsnip

I’d never really looked properly at this flower before – assuming somehow that it is a later version of cow parsley!! It does look very similar but is a bright yellow umbellifer – I’m even using botanical terms now!

I need to try to get this to grow in my wild patch, for by this time of the year most flowers still blooming are white. It is thought to have got its name – wild parsnip from the Latin name Pastinaca which probably comes from pastus meaning pasture. Or the name could come from the Latin Pastinare meaning to dig. The roots would have been used to provide a strong peppery flavour to soups and stews.