A field of potentially dangerous wild parsnips.
Wild parsnip, a weed that causes burns to people’s skin – and in some cases blindness – is a problem that needs to be dealt with more quickly in areas around Ottawa, including Centretown, city councillors say.
The plant, which blooms yellow flowers, contains a harmful sap that reacts when in contact with the skin. If an infected person then touches their eyes, this could result in blindness.
“The whole plant is dangerous,” Mike Yee, a biologist at the Rideau Valley Conservation Authority, says.
“The sap, which is all over the plant, is photo-reactive with ultra-violet light, meaning it burns the skin.”
The plant matures during June and July and this is when a majority of the cutting takes place. Coun. Marianne Wilkinson says she believes city council needs to keep on top of the issue so that it is more manageable next summer.
“There are big areas around the city. I think we need to start working there to make them peaceful lands instead of just being places for weeds. If they just cut it in June they would get it out the way,” she says.
The solution to the problem of wild parsnips is to cut them down or pull them out before they produce the poisonous sap.
Larry O’Keefe, the city’s manager of parks, says “the best option, in my interpretation, is to pull the plant out manually. That gets the root out, so it doesn’t regenerate. The next would be to cut it because that way, at least it’s not continuing to grow. Pesticides will stop it growing but not remove the root, so it can still regenerate.”
Wilkinson says she believes wild parsnip, which began as a rural problem, has become urbanized, as the plant has been found in some public walkways and behind houses in the city.
“I get complaints from people that wild parsnips are continuing to grow where their children play and they walk their dogs. I think the city has to start taking responsibility for maintaining their own lands in the urban area. We need to keep on top of the growth.”
O’Keefe, however, says there is already a lot of work being done by the city to tackle the problem in public spaces.
“In public areas like parks, we make sure we take care of the wild parsnips and we have a park maintenance program," he says.
"There are some areas around the city that we keep in a natural state, these are not in maintenance. But if someone complains about there being wild parsnip growing in an area near them, of course we will see to it.”
The city also runs a health education program so that people can be made aware of the problem of wild parsnips and how harmful they can be.
“It’s been very successful so far,” O’Keefe says.
“People are becoming more aware of the problem. Every time there is an announcement, either by the council or the media, it alerts more people to the issue and we get an influx of calls from people reporting the plant growing near them.”
Diane Downey, also from the Rideau Valley Conservation Authority, agrees that more needs to be done to educate people.
“The plant is appearing in such large quantities. People from urban areas are completely unfamiliar with it. I think educating people on the dangers is more of a concern than the actual cutting of the plant.”
As autumn progresses, most of the wild parsnips have died. However, as the plant is a perennial, it will return to Ottawa parks next summer, and remain a cause for concern unless the city is more vigilant in its efforts to remove the offending plants.