Peucedanum
(the old Greek name used by Hippocrates). Including Pastinaca. ORD. Umbelliferae. A genus comprising about 100 species of perennial, very rarely annual, herbs, shrubs, or rarely trees, dispersed over the Northern hemisphere, the Andes of tropical America, and tropical and Southern Africa. Flowers white or yellow, rarely pink, often polygamous, in compound, frequently many-rayed umbels. Leaves pinnately or ternately decompound, rarely simply pinnate. The species are of little horticultural value. The following are British plants: P. officinale (Sulphurwort), P. Ostruthium (Masterwort), P. palustre (Milk Parsley), and P. sativum (Wild Parsnip). For culture of the last-named, see Parsnip.
P. sativum (cultivated). Parsnip. fl. bright yellow, small; umbel-rays many, stout, long. July and August. l. shiny, pinnate; leaflets two to five pairs, 1in. to 3in. long, sessile, ovate, inciso-serrate. Stem 2ft. to 3ft. high, stout, angled, furrowed, fistular. Europe (Britain), Siberia. Annual or biennial. The Parsnip has been cultivated since the time of the Romans. SYN. Pastinaca sativa.