Family: Apiaceae Cow-parsley Anthriscus sylvestris Flowering time: April-June. Perennial. Abundant throughout most of Britain and Ireland on roadsides, hedgebanks and at the edges of woodland. Long-stalked umbels of white flowers without bracts but with broad, deflexed and often pinkish bracteoles. Smooth shiny fruit. The fern-like, triangular, 3-pinnate leaves appear from September and over-winter. Similar: Fools Parsley, Aethusa cynapium. Smaller, flowers July-August. Hemlock, Conium maculatum has purple-spotted stems

   


Cow-parsley, Anthriscus sylvestris
Holton Lee, Dorset. October 2012