Ammi majus... what's the difference?
hi,
i would like to know the difference between Ammi majus (Bishop's flower), ground elder (also Bishop's flower) and cow parsley.
i tried researching on but found conflicting answers!
can anyone please help as I've just been asked to plant some Ammi majus seeds in the garden but don't really want ground elder!!
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Forget "bishop's flower/weed" and just Google Ammi Majus. That will take you straight to the online stores selling the seeds. Cow parsley is a beautiful umbellifer that is just coming into flower on the roadside verges. Ammi Majus resembles cow parsley but has a slightly more symmetrical appearance. Ground elder is a weed that you will never be able to get rid of so avoid it like the plague. The flowers are a bit like cow parsley and ammi majus but the plant hugs the ground....and never lets go.
Agree with Ceres. Just use the proper name for a plant and there'll be no confusion
In the sticks near Peterborough
cow parsley is not as precise as you might think, either. Text books will tell you it's anthriscus sylvestris, but lots of people will point to a clump of daucus corota and call it cow parsley (and both get called Queen Anne's lace). And then there's cow parsnip - Heracleum sphodylium - or hogweed. As opposed to giant hogweed. And they all look quite like hemlock if you aren't looking too botanically.
The thing with wild umbellifers is it's REALLY important to know which one it is, because they range from mildly toxic to deadly poisonous with hardly any difference to look at and very similar - or interchangeable - common names. So this is one class where you need to use the proper names
Great stuff, thanks for clearing that up... common names are so confusing!