Ontario invasive plant looks exactly like food but gives you painful burns and blisters

While it might closely resemble a familiar, edible plant, this invasive species that's rapidly spreading across Ontario can leave you with painful burns and blisters simply from touching it. 

Wild parsnip, also known as poison parsnip or Pastinaca sativa, is an invasive plant native to Europe and Asia that was likely brought to North America by European settlers, who grew it for its edible root. 

However, since its introduction to the continent, the plant has escaped from cultivated gardens and has spread rapidly across Canada, including right here in Ontario. If you come across the plant, you might confuse it with other species that look quite similar, including giant hogweed, purplestem angelica, Queen Anne's-Lace (wild carrot), and cow parsnip. 

Dozens of sightings have already been reported in Ontario this year through the biodiversity social network, iNaturalist. 

Photo: marilyn28821/iNaturalist.

While wild parsnip is a member of the carrot and parsley family, its stems, leaves, and flowers produce sap containing chemicals that can increase your skin's sensitivity to the sun, resulting in severe dermatitis and burns. 

In its first year, the plant typically grows a spindly rosette of leaves while its root system develops, and in the second year, it flowers on a tall stalk, which can grow up to 1.5 metres. 

The plant is capable of outcompeting native species, thanks to its ability to form dense stands in areas like waste dumps, meadows, open fields, abandoned yards, railway embankments, and roadsides. 

Photo: animaldude4000/iNaturalist.

According to the province, wild parsnip can also reduce the quality of agricultural forage crops like hay, oats, and alfalfa, and reduce weight gain and fertility in the livestock that eat it. 

If you come across a small cluster of the species on your property (meaning less than 100 plants), you might be able to control its spread yourself. Make sure to wear protective clothing, including long-sleeved shirts, eye protection, and waterproof gloves, or even a disposable spray suit when removing the plant. 

If you're dealing with a larger infestation, you'll likely need the help of a professional exterminator and repeated treatments over a few years to make sure it is completely eradicated.