6 Plants That Can Be Mistaken for Parsley

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Is it a wild carrot, or is it hemlock? The parsley family, also known as the celery family, contains so many dangerous lookalikes that I’ve run across more than one source that says simply don’t touch it if it looks like parsley. Hemlock is deadly, and many sources say it looks like both Queen Anne’s lace (poison hemlock) and elderberry (water hemlock). Actually, it also looks like several other members of this family that frequently escape gardens and grow in the wild. To the trained eye though, there are ways to tell these members apart.

However, I still won’t forage these for two reasons. One, why bother? I’ve heard that Queen Anne’s lace tastes like wood and not as good as carrot, so I’d rather eat a carrot. When I’m out in the field, I don’t feel the need to pull out my magnifying glass to check if the plant I’m looking at is edible. There’s plenty of safer options that I’d rather go for.

Two, and more importantly, my son will do as I do. As I gather parsley, he might think he knows more than he thinks he does if I tell him, “Don’t even touch anything that looks like parsley.” You know how kids get mad when they think we’re not paying attention to them or taking what they say seriously? Well, they want a chance to show off their skills. Scary. I just don’t think this is a foraging source for me.

By the way, the hemlocks also not the only plant in the family to beware of. There’s a less toxic member of this family known as fool’s parsley. Wild parsnip can give you contact burns. There’s also a rare, but dangerous plant called giant hogweed. That one was said to “may cause skin irritation” or “can cause a rash due to photosensitivity” by some sources, but they didn’t say anything else. Way to understate it guys. Anyway, if you know of another one that I haven’t run across, please let me know.

Throughout the page, if a leaf is called “resembling parsley,” it means that it has two or three interlocking leaflets that look like laces. It means that the compound pinnate leaf (which looks like a feather) is split into another pinnate structure (bipinnate, which means split twice) and then split again (tri, which means split three times). The leaflets are deeply lobed and almost look like another pinnate structure themselves. Sometimes the growth at the bottom is distinctly tripinnate while the newer growth looks more bipinnate.

Also, all of these have the classic compound umbel pattern in their flowers. a group of stems (maybe 15–20) that split off into more stems and end in small white flowers with stamens that are longer than the petals Sometimes these are densely packed and resemble an inverted umbrella with a flat top. Even in the same species though, this might not always be the case. The white flower clusters aren’t always so close together and are more round. Other times, they are far apart and may look more like a bunch of white balloons floating together. Sometimes they are even more separated and look like a bunch of white lollipops.

This family has a lot of beneficial plants that are frequently grown in our gardens. I won’t go into all the details because that would turn a page about how to avoid some poisonous plants into a botanical dissertation that needs more than a few chapters. Afraid I just don’t have that much free time. Water hemlock may look like angelica (Angelica archengelica) or wild celery. Poison hemlock resembles cow parsley (Anthriscus sylvestris) or wild chervil, anise (Pimpinella anisum), and caraway (Perideridia gairdneri). There are scores of other examples.

Queen Anne’s lace is what people are looking for when they go and accidentally poison themselves. It’s also called wild carrot and is in the same family. In fact, if you grow carrots and wish to save the seed, you might need to take precaution to avoid cross-pollination between the two. In fact, it is theoretically possible that hemlock may cross pollinate with your carrots, or with Queen Anne’s lace, though pages that I’ve seen that mention this theory don’t seem to be able to pin down information on it. This may be part of the reason some foragers thought they had wild carrot and ended up consuming hemlock. Or, it may be a rumor based on speculation. If you know something concrete about this possibility, let me know.

Most Queen Anne’s lace has a purple spot in the middle of the umbel flower cluster, which is something that the poisonous plants in this family don’t have. This is said to be a drop of blood from Queen Anne’s finger when she was making lace. It may fade after the plant is fertilized.

After fertilizing, the flower cluster folds up and inward on itself, forming a cup shape made out of tiny bristly seeds that can cling to clothing and pet hair. This seed head is where it gets another common name, bird’s nest. It has the lacy leaves that are frequently found in the parsley family, and of course a deep taproot that has an orange color (though it is supposed to be woody when compared to a carrot). It also smells like a carrot, while hemlock smells like parsnips. It has hairy green stems, while the stems of hemlock are smooth and may be (not always) flecked or streaked with purple.

Elderberry is not in the parsley family, but it should be contrasted with water hemlock here. Elderberry is a shrub with a woody stem that may have little white or cork-like polka dots running along it. The branches are filled with a soft pith that can be scraped out. The blossoms form an umbel that is flat on top, and feathery (pinnate) opposite compound leaves (not alternating like water hemlock). A close look (Deane uses a magnifying glass) at the leaves will show that if the veins reach the edges, they will end at the tip of the teeth, not in the indented notches. You shouldn’t need the magnifier though, hemlock has a green stem with soft tissues and perhaps some purple splotches. Also, hemlock does not produce fruit and the flower umbel shape is different. Plus, the veins on elderberry are shallow and fading at the edges, where in hemlock they are quite visible and grooved.

While the ripe berries can be eaten, I should point out that the unripe ones are not. Also, the wood and leaves are poisonous. People have been poisoned while making whistles from the wood, and foragers are told to make sure that the berry has no stem left on it. Even the ripe berries give some people problems.

There is a also caution about red elderberries. They are somewhat toxic (hydrogen cyanide), though can be made more edible by removing the seeds and stems then cooking them. Even when properly prepared, it may still cause digestive upset which implies the toxins are still present. Doesn’t seem worth the risk, too much cyanide doesn’t tend to end well.

Poison Hemlock (Conium maculatum) can be a tall herb, sometimes as tall as eight feet. It has a smooth stem that might have purple mottling or streaking. Some people have said it looked like a serial killer had brutally killed someone nearby and the blood had splashed on the stems. Vivid, but certainly a way to remember both the splotches and the danger involved in them. The leaves resemble parsley and are alternate. When crushed, they are said to smell like parsnips. I have no idea what a parsnip smells like; what matters is that it doesn’t smell like a carrot. It should smell like something unpleasant, like mice, must, or rotten food. The main things that set them apart are the lack of hairs on the stems, the purple spots, and the smell.

Water Hemlock (Cicuta maculata) grows to about two to seven feet tall. Like poison hemlock, the stem is green and might have some purple or reddish splotches. The young plant is sometimes purple all over, fading as it grows. The hollow stem has grooves or ribs running along it. The leaves are blade-shaped and alternate in a way that looks like elm or ash leaves instead of the lacy parsley leaf. The veins along the leaflet end in the notches between the serrated teeth. The veins on the leaf are grooved, and easy to see.

Even a small amount of either hemlock can cause death. I heard of one horrible story where a child used the hollow stem as a whistle and died. I’ve heard rumors that he isn’t the first, and there may be several historical cases. If even a tiny amount is ingested, get an ambulance immediately. It may be possible to keep the person alive with artificial respiration until the effects of the toxin wear off. If possible, take a sample of the plant for confirmation.

This plant is called Fool’s Parsley (Aethusa cynapium), but it is also called cow’s parsley, lesser hemlock, or poison parsley. It is not as poisonous as hemlock, but it is still poisonous. It resembles hemlock with the alternating parsley like leaves and smooth stem.

I’ve seen several references to its medicinal properties. Really, please. Not worth the risk. It is a poisonous plant, there are other options for treatment that are safer. Do not use this plant unless you are really sick and need to call a doctor or go to the emergency room. If you think herbs are better because they are safer, read this whole page again and look at some other plants that are poisonous. Use herbs (and probiotics) to help recover after treatment by a doctor, or to support treatment.

Wild Parsnip should be mentioned a little bit. It has the umbel flowers, but they are yellow rather than white. The leaves are alternating and pinnately compound, but they are not as lacy as parsley. They are wider and have toothed edges like water hemlock, but the bottom has lobes that make them look like mittens. I’ve seen some butterfly species with top wings that are bigger than bottom wings, and some of their leaves are thinner. Other plants have more than one lobe, but only on the very last few leaflets of a compound leaf. Some pictures I’ve seen show leaves that have enough deep lobes to look like parsley, but not quite.

Contact with the sap (including if you brush against the plant, breaking the stem, and get sap on your clothes) can cause a rash that resembles sunburn (and it is sunburn, the sap reacts with the sun to cause this). The damage can leave dark red marks that won’t fade for a year. Apparently it’s so infrequently discussed that it can stump medical professionals.

Be careful when you mow your lawn, because the same page says that a family doctor often sees high school students hired to do lawn work and clear weeds from the sides of roads with parsnip burns. The burn typically only lasts a couple of days. Get it out of your lawn by just pulling it up by the root (wear gloves). Try to get it before it flowers or goes to seed. Boiling water may help kill any leftover root.

All About Parsley

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