# Plant ID help

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plant-id-help/915524>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [July 16, 2020, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plant-id-help/915524 "2020-07-16T21:19:13Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\
**Post date:** [July 16, 2020, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plant-id-help/915524/1 "2020-07-16T21:19:13Z")

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I wonder if I can call upon the collective genius of the community here to help ID a plant I found growing locally…  
Pictures are here: [Microsoft OneDrive - Access files anywhere. Create docs with free Office Online.](https://1drv.ms/u/s!Ar4eOUAx-yGwiItUriBj6QAp47LZPw?e=XI1NV3)  
**NB: the white umbels of flowers you see in the first photo are not from this plant - they are from cow parsley growing in with it**

Description - it’s a dense patch of many individual plants growing about 120cm tall at the present time  
Many of the features suggest to me a member of Apiacae, but the flower heads (unfortunately the least successful photo) are not conspicuous flat umbels (but they are also not fully developed yet)  
The stalks of the plant are tough and quite stiff and wiry-feeling - at each node, the stem angles away a little from the emerging leaf/stalk, and these branches occur alternately up the stem, resulting in an overall slight zigzag shape to the stem  
The leaves are somewhat aromatic when crushed - they have a fairly pleasant sort of citrusy-resin scent.

This plant is only occurring in one location near me, in the south of England - and I don’t recall seeing it anywhere else, so my suspicion is that this is either a garden escape, or someone has scattered a handful of seed here on purpose.

Any ideas?

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**Author:** ![am77494](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d2c977/32.png) [@am77494](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/am77494)\
**Post date:** [July 16, 2020, 9:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plant-id-help/915524/2 "2020-07-16T21:35:37Z")

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My plantID app says wild parsnip

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**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\
**Post date:** [July 16, 2020, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plant-id-help/915524/3 "2020-07-16T21:41:37Z")

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That seems more leafy and robust than what I’m looking at here, but supports my suspicion that this is Apiacae

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**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\
**Post date:** [July 16, 2020, 11:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plant-id-help/915524/4 "2020-07-16T23:24:07Z")

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Ah! I think I have it!

> **[UK Wildflowers - Apiaceae - Sison Amomum, Stone Parsley](https://www.uksouthwest.net/wildflowers/apiaceae/sison-amomum.html)**
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> Stone parsley, sison amomum, from the apiaceae family: slender, hairless, widely-branched stems, once pinnate leaves and open clusters of a small number of tiny white flowers