Heracleum maximum

Cow parsnip, giant hogweed, Giant Hogweed

Family: Apiaceae · Type: perennial · Native

Cow parsnip is a native perennial found in the California Floristic Province and Great Basin in moist places, wooded or open, at elevations up to 2,900 meters. Flowering from April to July, this plant produces large white flowers in wide, complex clusters with multiple unequal rays. Growing 1 to 3 meters tall with a stout, strong-scented stem, the plant has a robust and impressive presence in its habitat. Its distinctive leaves are large and compound, with broad ternate blades up to 5 decimeters wide, divided into ovate to round leaflets that are deeply lobed and coarsely serrated. The fruit is obovate to obcordate, approximately 8 to 12 millimeters long and slightly hairy.

Habitat: Moist places, wooded or open

Bloom period: Apr-Jul

Elevation: < 2900 m

Bioregions: CA-FP, GB

California counties: Humboldt, San Bernardino, Fresno, Alameda, Madera, Shasta, Mendocino, Butte, Mariposa, Placer, San Mateo, El Dorado, Tulare, Alpine, Trinity, Marin, Mono, Tuolumne, San Diego, Nevada, Tehama, Los Angeles, Sonoma, San Luis Obispo, Modoc, Plumas, Inyo, San Francisco, Santa Cruz, Siskiyou, Amador, Contra Costa, Del Norte, Napa, Santa Clara, Sierra, Monterey

Data from The California Species Project — 14,000+ California species with verified data from CNPS, CDFW, USFWS, Jepson eFlora, Cal-IPC, and more.