Angelica atropurpurea

Native

Wet to moist. Swamps, wet woods, meadows, stream banks, fens. Full to partial sun.

June to August

White

2′ to 8′

This is a 2′ to 8′ tall, erect, perennial forb that rises on usually a single stem from a taproot.

The stems are erect, purplish, thick, hollow, hairless, and aromatic.

Basal leaves are 4″ to 12″ long and are divided into 3 segments. They are on thick leaf stalks that sheath the stem at the base. The sheaths are not inflated or are only slightly inflated. Each leaf segment is pinnately divided into 3 or 5 leaflets.

Stem leaves are similar, becoming smaller and less divided as they ascend the stem.

The leaflets are egg-shaped to lance-shaped and 1½″ to 4″ long. They taper to a point at the tip with straight sides along the tip. The upper surface is hairless. The lower surface is hairless or may be minutely hairy. The margins are toothed with sharp, forward-pointing teeth, and rarely have a fringe of hairs.

The inflorescence is a branched array of several long-stalked umbels at the end of the stem. The umbels are 4″ to 8″ wide and globe-shaped. Each umbel has 20 to 45 branches (rays) at the end of which are smaller, secondary umbels (umbellets). The umbellets are also globe-shaped.

The fruit is dry, ⅛″ to ¼″long, oblong egg-shaped, and hairless. It contains 2 seeds.

American cow parsnip (Heracleum maximum) stem is sparsely to densely covered with spreading, easily visible hairs. The sheath at the base of the leaf stalk is moderately to strongly inflated. The leaflets are 4″ to 12″ long and wide, egg-shaped to almost circular in outline, and palmately 3-lobed. The umbels are flat-topped, not globe-shaped.