Wild Parsnep.

Botanical name: 

Plate 38. Pastinaca sylvestris.

A wild plant, common about our road sides. It is three feet high. The stalk is straight, up right, round, striated, and yellowish. The leaves are composed of many broad divisions, and resemble those of the garden parsnep, but they are smaller. The flowers are little and yellow: they grow at the tops of the stalks, in large, rounded tufts, and the seeds are flat, and of an oval figure. The root is long, white, and well tasted.

The root is to be used. A strong decoction of it works by urine, and opens all obstructions. It is good against the gravel and the jaundice, and will bring down the menses.


The Family Herbal, 1812, was written by John Hill.