Have you spotted this plant in Windsor? It's invasive — and the city is trying to reduce its impact

The City of Windsor will be tackling a population of wild parsnips later this month — an invasive species that's only becoming more prevalent in Ontario.

The city says it will be using a herbicide along the Ganatchio Trail system in the Little River Corridor to control the plant species starting Aug. 12 and expects the work to wrap up by Aug. 23.

The Invasive Species Centre provided grant money to the city to tackle its wild parsnip population. The grant will also allow the city to track the growth of the parsnips locally so staff can better understand the scale of the problem and what options are available to best manage it, according to City of Windsor naturalist and Ojibway Nature Centre outreach co-ordinator Karen Alexander.

According to the Invasive Species Centre, wild parsnips are native to much of Europe and West/Central Asia but can now be found in every province and territory in Canada except Nunavut. The plant has become increasingly common in Ontario over the last decade or two.

Wild parsnips out-compete native plants and hurt the quality of some crops, including hay. (Dalson Chen/CBC)

The plants out-compete native plants and hurt the quality of some crops, including hay.

"[In] disturbed areas on the landscape, parsnip can really take over. It can be a monoculture of yellow flowers," said Alexander.

"In most cases, you're going to see it more scattered throughout some of the other native species in the parks."

While Ontario restricts the use of pesticides in Ontario, and has banned the use of pesticides for cosmetic reasons, pesticides are allowed to be used on wild parsnips due to their impacts on human health.

While it is not possible to fully eliminate the plant and its spread, the city hopes to reduce human contact with wild parsnips by spraying the plants in order to help protect its risk to the public. "A management task is really what we're setting out to do," said Alexander.

Wild parsnips also produce a sap that causes burning, rashes and blisters on the skin if it's exposed to sunlight, according to Derissa Vincentini, community science co-ordinator with the Invasive Species Centre in Sault Ste. Marie.

Wild parsnips look a lot like Queen Anne's Lace, giant hogweed and angelica, according to Vincentini. "It's actually the only one out of those that have yellow flowers rather than white flowers. So that is one way to distinguish them," she says.

"The flowers are quite small as individuals with five little petals, but they grow in clusters of 15 to 25 … and then they produce this really flat kind of umbrella shape."

The plant grows about one and a half metres tall and blooms from June to August.

Karen Alexander, City of Windsor naturalist and Ojibway Nature Centre outreach co-ordinator, points out some wild parsnips. (Dalson Chen/CBC)

"Wild parsnip is blooming actually right now across the city," said Alexander. "[It] looks a lot like Queen Anne's lace, but it's yellow."

Alexander says staying on authorized trails, cleaning hiking shoes and bike tires to prevent the spread of the parsnip's seeds and learning how to identify the plant are some of the best ways to prevent the species' spread.

If members of the public have wild parsnips growing in their yards, Alexander says removing the plants very carefully while wearing gloves can be an option to remove them — though less confident gardeners could alternatively call a landscaping company to tackle the plants with pesticides.

And if you come into contact with the parsnip, Vincentini says it's important to cover the area immediately, wash with soap and water as soon as possible, and keep the skin covered for 48 hours after contact to prevent the sap from interacting with sunlight and causing burns.

Those who do experience burns or blisters from the plant should seek medical attention, Vincentini adds.