Help identifying some sort of root plant/vegetable

Lee Alexander

Hello, in and around our veg plot we have noticed this growing. It looks like a parsnip, but we've never planted these. We plant carrots and these are amongst these....but they seem too pale, too long and the leaves too big and tall! Any advice welcome? Thanks, Lee

fidgetbones

It looks like cow parsley, a weed in a veg plot.  Don't  eat it.

Uff

Seconded fidgetbones. I reckon it's been a good year for it or should I say last year was when it scattered its seeds far and wide. I have it in all sorts of strange places. 

Slow-worm

Bit late for cow parsley, more likely to be wild carrot, aka Queen Anne's Lace, which is edible, but unless you're 100% sure of anything in the hemlock family, best not to.

Lee Alexander

Thank you! Never seen it before this year, I'll get digging it up!

JennyJ

I have an ornamental carrot, Daucus carrota, which has leaves like that, and typical umbellifer flowers but with a tiny deep red centre. But a lot of umbellifers look very similar, so if you don't like it, get rid. Certainly don't eat it!

Slow-worm

Hemlock is big, and has purple spotted stems, just so you know. 👍
You could keep the carrot, it's pretty, well I like it, lol.. just chop the flowers before they seed.