Selfsufficientish.com

I have no idea what this is, but I'm curious as it's all over the local nature reserve.

kind of looks like carrot leaves but I'm sure that's not possible.

Just looks like a type of fern to me. There are ferns all over the joint in Glasgow as the victorians were into them and planted them everywhere... along with rhododendrons.

I am willing to be proved wrong but that is what it looks like to me.

anythign is better than nothing ann!!

i forgot to mention, it's in a slightly shaded, but not totally canopied part of a wood which is oak in majority.

try queen annes lace - aka wild carrot

or poison hemlock - dangerous!

hemlock: it doesn't appear to have any spots on the stems... but I'll rub and sniff for signs of aniseed. ta.

As far as I know wild carrots are smaller than cultivated types Wild Carrots Info

I would say that's hemlock. A young plant, which can get huge as they get older. If you break off a leaf and rub it to release the oils, it will smell very bitter. Wild carrot or parsnip smells just like fresh carrots when you break them. Hemlock can be very lightly grazed by goats with no ill effect; it's quite poisonous to horses. I also think it's more poisonous to anything that eats it when it's wilted.

Andrea
NZ

Where are you mrsflibble?

Funny time of year for young hemlock in the UK!

I'm in basildon, essex. I've still no idea what the thing is 'cos I've not been able to get back to the reserve yet- mucho packing being done.

I just weeded out some plants that looked like that yesterday, and one of them was flowering. I thought it was something like Queen Anne's Lace but I've never bothered to identify it!

Is there anyone who runs that reserve who you could ask what it is? There must be a warden or something.

if we've done enough unpacking at the new house i could tag along to the monthly work party... there's an association which takes care of the reserve....... there is only one problems with this plan







they don't like forragers who walk on two legs and arnt squirrels.

It looks like the stuff we used to collect for the rabbit, when I was a mere babe. We called it rabbit meat. No idea what it's real name was. Didn't harm the rabbit cos it lived to a ripe old age.

However, it was a long time ago & more than likely not the same stuff at all. So maybe I shouldn't bothered with this post at all...

Looks more like Hemlock to me - you will be able to tell in the spring as Hemlock grows much taller 1-2metres (wild carrot up to 1metre).

Here are some pics of Hemlock

Wild carrots - we have tons of the stuff in the garden, no carrots to speak of, but very pretty flowers that attract lots of butterflies in the garden.

What about wild Chervil




This is wild carrot


a little info
Two biennial weeds that are hard to distinguish when small are wild carrot (Daucus carota) and poison hemlock (Conium maculatum). Both form basal rosettes and have leaves that are pinnately dissected (very divided). Leaves of wild carrot (otherwise known as Queen Anne's lace) are smooth on the upper surface yet have very short hairs on the lower leaf surface. In the second year, vertical hollow stems with very few leaves are produced from the rosette. Poison hemlock leaves and stems are hairless, with purple speckling on the stems. In the second year, leaves are present on the stems, and the plant appears fernlike. When the stem or leaves are crushed, they emit a pungent, parsniplike odor. Poison hemlock leaves tend to be larger, 20 to 40 centimeters long, compared with wild carrot leaves, which may only reach 15 centimeters.