| Cow Parsley, not the prettiest name for a flower that fills our verges with clouds of lacy beauty in May. The name has nothing to do with cows. The plant, like parsley is in the Carrot family and the name merely implies that the leaves are a rather inferior edible to true parsley. Many of its other common names such as Queen Anne’s lace, fairy lace and Kex are variably used for other members of this family, the old English word Kek referring to its hollow stem. The name mother-die was a useful “frightener” to deter children from picking one of the very deadly cow parsley look-alikes such as Hemlock by mistake. A useful reminder for us as well to not try a nibble of any plant in the Carrot family unless you really know what you are doing -just enjoy the view. |
I have thought for a while that Cow Parsley displays were becoming more prolific. It seems I was right. The Countryside Survey, a ten yearly government census of habitats found a 58% increase in cow parsley along monitored verges between 1978 and 2007. Unlike most wildflowers, cow parsley, along with nettles likes fertile soil. We are enriching our verges with nitrogen from car exhausts, sadly at the expense of other more delicate plants. Photos by Catherine Truscott