wild parsnip

British  

noun

1. a strong-smelling umbelliferous plant, Pastinaca sativa, that has an inedible root: the ancestor of the cultivated parsnip

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Example Sentences

“The egg white is cattails. The yolk is pickled heirloom tomatoes in a broth of wild parsnip juice. I use willow bark to make the home fries, and squash as bacon.”

From The New Yorker • Aug. 22, 2016

On Kodiak Island the sites were covered with stinging nettles and wild parsnip; over burial sites elderberries were common.

From Time Magazine Archive

In the old days, people had carried around these little chunks of wild parsnip root to protect themselves from poisonous snakes, and so what if rattlesnakes had always been as rare as money in Milagro?

From "The Milagro Beanfield War" by John Nichols

The slates that had fallen from the roof of byre and stable lay buried already under the growth of nettle and mallow and wild parsnip; and the yard-wall was down in a dozen places.

From Old Fires and Profitable Ghosts by Quiller-Couch, Arthur Thomas, Sir

The wild parsnip was poisonous but doctors ate it to demonstrate their power.

From Washo Religion by Downs, James F.