Parsley or mauvaise herbe?

[tenniswitch]

Is there a mauvaise herbe that looks like flat-leafed parsley (not the giant kind). I was just pulling clover and dandelions out of a flower bed and found a nice clump that looks exactly like the common flat-leafed parsley.

Don't want to feed it to anyone unless I'm sure it's edible (it's not mature enough to have any scent).

[Framboise]

Might this be an immature buttercup plant? They have a pale line running around the leaf which parsely does'nt.

[Patf]

That's what I was going to suggest, Framboise.I've had buttercup leaves mixed in with a flat leaf parsley plant.

The buttercup root system is different too - quite deep, whitish multi-forked.

[tenniswitch]

Haven't noticed any line around the leaves. I think I'll let it grow a bit and see what it looks like in another couple of weeks.

[Judie]

Could be Greater Celandine if it has yellow sap when you tear a stalk.

[5-element]

If it really looks like parsley, I would not touch it Tenniswitch. There are some very lethal plants in the umbelliferae family, some of them quite common (hemlock comes to mind), and they are notoriously difficult to identify. I hold this pearl of wisdom from an experienced French botanist (even wrote a book on wild plants), who kept well away from such plants on field trips!

On the other hand, if it is buttercup, it would only be mildly toxic.

[tenniswitch]

[quote user="5-element"]

If it really looks like parsley, I would not touch it Tenniswitch. There are some very lethal plants in the umbelliferae family, some of them quite common (hemlock comes to mind), and they are notoriously difficult to identify. I hold this pearl of wisdom from an experienced French botanist (even wrote a book on wild plants), who kept well away from such plants on field trips!

On the other hand, if it is buttercup, it would only be mildly toxic.

[/quote] Undoubtedly good advice.

We have lots of buttercups around here (I'm always tempted to leave them in the garden) - they don't look like this.

It certainly doesn't look like the photos of hemlock I've seen- that looks more fern-like.

[tenniswitch]

It's definitel parsley- took my life in my hands and tried some this evening.[;-)]

[Théière]

Are you still with us Tenniswitch?

 

[5-element]

I do hope she is, and will report soon!

In the meantime, something about wild parsley being confused with something else:

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anthriscus_sylvestris

[Grumpy]

Any chance of a photo or try Google Pictures. Buttercup usually has a single "trefoil " type termina  leaf ie 3 major lobes with a furthe pair below thet whilst parsley is normally  "pinnate" a central stem with several leaflets growing either side ana central terminal leaf.

Grumpy