Parsnip Pastinacasativa

Parsnip (Pastinaca sativa), a biennial British Umbelliferous plant, cultivated at least since the days of the Emperor Tiberius. In the Channel Islands its conical tap-roots reach eighteen inches in length and four to five inches in diameter. They are cream-coloured, sweet and aromatic, but of less dietetic value than the potato. The leaves are once pinnate, with oval bright-green leaflets, downy underneath when wild; and the flowers are yellow, and in large terminal, flat, compound umbels, on stems three or four feet high.