Where the cow-parsley skirts the hawthornhedge. ’Tis visible silence, still as the hour-glass ‘Silent Noon’, Dante Gabriel Rossetti
FROM the beginning of May, every country road and lane is lined with the familiar froth of cow parsley. Fuelled by increasing nitrogen levels in the verges, the exuberance of the plant is unstoppable—mile after mile of it bobs and sways to passing traffic like a never-ending Mexican wave. Cow parsley (Anthriscus sylvestris), which is also known by the more decorative Queen Anne’s lace, is the first in a succession of roadside umbellifers that adorns the countryside from spring to late summer. It belongs to one of the largest plant families in the world with more than 3,700 species, some 100 of which may be found in the UK.
The or , as they are now known, are easily recognised by their elegant, umbrella-like flowerheads, but can be difficult
