Anthriscus sylvestris (L.) Hoffm., Cow Parsley

Account Summary

Growth form and preferred habitats

A very familiar, common and widespread, tall, wintergreen, tap-rooted, native, polycarpic perennial, Cow Parsley is a seasonally exceedingly conspicuous, characteristic, abundant and temporarily dominant umbellifer along wayside and riverside hedge banks, and the inner zone of roadside verge grasslands and grassy waste places during the months of April to June (Dowdeswell 1987, p. 51). It is less common but still very frequent around the unkempt margins of woodland and scrub and also appears in better-lit areas within these shade habitats, eg in canopy gaps, and in more open areas beside paths. Cow Parsley is also found in other lowland, marginal or moderately disturbed ground sites that similarly offer mesic or less extreme soil conditions in terms of moisture, shade, pH, base- and nutrient-content and which, therefore, support tall herb vegetation transitional between forest and managed grassland (Salisbury 1964, p. 266). Finally, it also grows on damp cliff ledges of natural upland scarps and in their artificial, man-made equivalent – quarries.

The ecologically wide soil preferences of A. sylvestris are also reflected in the overall B & I distribution at the hectad level, it being almost omnipresent throughout at this scale, except in the wet-peat boglands NW of the Great Glen in Scotland and along the western seaboard of Ireland (Preston et al. 2002). The marked presence on roadside verges which are not intensively managed, but are periodically mown two or three times during each growing season, indicates that A. sylvestris can cope with this level of human disturbance. However, the near absence from all but the most neglected marginal areas of agricultural land, both in pastures or in cultivated fields, reveals the rather narrow limits of its tolerance of disturbance. The established strategy of the species is classed by Grime et al. (1988, 2007) as, "intermediate between competitor and competitive ruderal" (C/CR), indicating A. sylvestris can compete successfully and maintain populations in tall, rough grassy vegetation and exploit a range of moist or shaded fertile habitats.

A. sylvestris is a conspicuous component of all types of grassland that are not too heavily grazed and especially those that are mown first for hay or silage and grazed only towards the end of the growing season. Cow Parsley becomes most luxuriant where grassland is seasonally managed (ie cut, browsed and manured) in this manner (Clapham 1953).

Variation

Two varieties have been recognised in Britain since Clapham (1953) drew attention to them. In var. sylvestris, the whole plant is more open and sparsely hairy; the leaves are more rigid, ultimate segments 10-25 mm wide, not overlapping; lobes linear or linear-lanceolate and gradually narrowed into a conspicuous mucro (ie a short abrupt point). The alternative from is var. latisecta Druce in which the whole plant is more dense and much hairier. Leaves are softer, ultimate segments 20-25 mm wide, overlapping; lobes lanceolate or ovate, rounded-obtuse-mucronate (Sell & Murrell 2009).

It appears that var. sylvestris is the native plant in Britain and is the only form in Scotland and England south as far as Derbyshire (VC 57). It was probably the main plant of northern mainland Europe also. In Wales, it is found on ancient trackways and on other grasslands.

Var. latisecta is the common form in England south of Derbyshire. Intermediate plants occur, but it is not known if an intermediate zone as such is formed (Sell & Murrell 2009). The situation in Ireland is unknown. Clapham (1953) believed that the southern var. latisecta might be a quite recent human introduction, and later work by Arthur Chater in Wales and towards London appears to support this notion (Sell & Murrell 2009; Chater 2010).

Vegetative and seed reproduction

Like many umbellifers, the A. sylvestris plant produces several perennating buds at the base of each fruiting stem as it dies off in summer. This provides overwintering semi-rosette plantlets and, at the same time, it allows a measure of vegetative increase to take place – although effective dispersal of the buds would perhaps require an ultimately counter-productive, destructive level of habitat disturbance of the site (Tutin 1980; Grime et al. 1988, 2007). The main reproductive thrust, however, is towards seed production, and although flowering occurs mainly and very conspicuously between April and June, in fact it continues at a very low frequency throughout most of the year in the wide range of habitats that the species occupies. The flower-heads contain many male flowers arranged both internal and external to the perfect bisexual ones, the latter often only representing about a fifth of the total flower number in each inflorescence (Lovett-Doust 1980). Study by Lovett-Doust found between 55% and 70% of bisexual flowers produced seed, and the presence of the additional male pollen flowers that appear "cheaper to produce", attract more insects to the inflorescence than would otherwise be the case, thus improving outbreeding success (Lovett-Doust 1980; Lovett-Doust & Lovett-Doust 1982; Proctor et al. 1996, pp. 346-7). Incidentally, the flowers have a nasty tang of stale (human?) dung, a scent which short-tongued flies find attractive (Proctor & Yeo 1973, p. 95).

Seed dispersal and germination

The 1.5 m tall fruiting stems dry out and die after July; the wind and rain wash the stems, scattering their seed for a prolonged period, and do so particularly readily in the linear wayside habitats that are so very characteristic of the species (Ridley 1930, pp. 31-2, 168).

The species is very definitely a 'follower of man' (ie it is anthropogenic in its occurrence), being promoted beyond its natural range of habitats and distribution by human disturbance and by the creation of artificial (man-made) linear habitats such as roads, railways and canals. Rapid movement of transport vehicles, the slipstream effect, also assists its dispersal.

Seed germinates in the spring following winter chilling, but it does not survive into the second year, so there is no persistent soil seed bank (Roberts 1979; Thompson et al. 1997).

Fermanagh occurrence

A. sylvestris is recorded from 351 Fermanagh tetrads, 66.5% of those in the VC. It shows a preference for fertile lowland soils of near or above neutral reaction and it appears somewhat more frequently in base-rich limestone districts than elsewhere in the Fermanagh flora survey. Having said that, a number of Fermanagh records in the Database are listed from sites described or named as bogs and loughs, but the plant never grows in wetlands, nor on extremely acidic soils and, therefore, these records must refer more loosely to the vicinity, rather than the actual wet or acid peat ground listed for the particular location grid reference.

British and Irish occurrence

A. sylvestris is recorded in almost every hectad in England and Wales and is common and seasonally dominant in a wide range of suitable lowland habitats throughout both countries. In Scotland, it is common and widespread in the eastern lowlands and around the major conurbations, becoming more thinly scattered in the wetter and more acidic terrain of the northern and western isles. It is absent from the Highlands for the same reasons.

In Ireland, A. sylvestris is common and locally abundant everywhere throughout the lowlands, except in the far west where unsuitable wet, strongly acidic, blanket boglands and dry, rocky limestone habitats predominate (New Atlas). There has been little change in the hectad distribution in the 40 years between the two BSBI Atlas surveys, and although the species has the ability to expand its populations and extend along linear habitats by seed, the detrimental effects of airborne pollution and nutrient enrichment on competitive ability appear to balance any tendency towards increase of the species.

European and world occurrence

A. sylvestris is widespread and abundant across Europe from Iceland to N Scandinavia (right to the shores of the Arctic Ocean), southwards to N Spain and eastwards to W Asia and SE Russia. However, it becomes rarer in the south and is absent from all the Mediterranean isles except Corsica. It is also indigenous in mountain regions of N Africa. The population in NE Russia and Asia belongs to a separate taxon, subspecies aemula Woron (Clapham 1953; Hultén & Fries 1986, Map 1388). A. sylvestris is also introduced in C & S Africa and it is even more obviously introduced in N America (Jonsell & Karlsson 2010)

Herbivory, names and folk use

Although 'Cow Parsley' is one of the most familiar English common names of this well-known and much loved early summer harbinger, the plant does not survive much grazing pressure and trampling from cattle, sheep or horses. Horses in particular appear to seek it out. Deirdre Forbes, wife of the current author (RSF), describes having trouble when out riding dissuading her mare from stopping to pull it! Cattle and rabbits are also said to be partial to it.

Grigson (1955, 1987) lists a total of 59 local English common names and variants for the plant. Many of these names are derogatory, including those with 'cow', 'dog', 'sheep', 'pig', 'rabbit' (or 'coney'), 'hare' and 'devil's' as elements. Several names were shared with the ultra-poisonous Hemlock, Conium maculatum, such as 'Bad Man's Oatmeal' (ie 'Devil's oatmeal') and 'Lady's Lace', although the plant is only supposed or feared to be poisonous, rather than edible. The widely used name 'Queen Anne's Lace' is possibly transferred from the Virgin, as in 'My Lady's Lace', another name given to this species. The reference to Queen Anne's Lace was probably not only to the lace-like flower-heads, but possibly to the tragic child losses she suffered.

There is a substantial body of associated folklore (Vickery 1995), often regarding the plant as inauspicious, such as a prohibition on bringing the plant indoors, "because the snakes will follow it". Picking the flowers and bringing them indoors was also feared to lead to the death of one's mother. Another of its names was 'Stepmother's Blessing', or 'Mother Die', all probably due to its supposed similarity to the very poisonous Hemlock (Vickery 1995). In Ireland, another association was with May as the month of Our Lady, and hence a saying, 'Lady's lace looks lovely on the altar'. The hollow stem of the plant (often when dead) was frequently used as a pea-shooter in many parts of B & I (Vickery 2019).

Mabey (1972, p. 124) recommends A. sylvestris as a pot herb substitute for its close relative Garden Chervil, A. cerefolium. In Gloucestershire, the Isle of Man and parts of Ireland, A. sylvestris was recommended as a cure for kidney or bladder stones or gravel. This might merely have been a carry over from the same property attributed to Garden Parsley (Petroselinum crispum) (Allen & Hatfield 2004).

Threats

None.

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