Cow-parsnip
Heracleum maximum
Carrot family (Apiaceae)
Cow Parsnip is rich in minerals and favored by grazing animals, hence its common name. In herbal medicine, this plant has long been used to treat epilepsy. Stalks and roots are often peeled and roasted as a vegetable. Cow Parsnip may be confused with water hemlock, which is extremely poisonous. The was named for Hercules for the plant was thought to have potent powers.
An umbel is a collection of flowers on short stalks which spread from a common point, somewhat like umbrella ribs. The arrangement can vary from being flat-topped to almost spherical.
inflated -- Swollen. Looks unusually large.
A perennial plant lives and blooms for many years.
A herb is a plant whose stems die back to the ground in the winter.
fruit -- any seed-bearing structure in flowering plants. It is formed from the ovary after flowering.
palmate -- Consisting of leaflets or lobes radiating from the base of the leaf.
wing -- Pea flowers have wings.
canopy -- The foliage of a tree; the crown. Also the upper layer of a forest.
genus -- A subdivision of a botanical Family in which all members have a significant number of similar characteristics.
alternate -- leaves alternate along the main stem and are attached singly.
palmately lobed -- with lobes spread radially from a point.
leaflets -- Each little leaf-like thing in a compound leaf is a leaflet.
lobe -- Being divided by clefts.