Photographs: Co. Limerick

Lesser Water-parsnip Berula erecta Ráib uisce Family: Apiaceae Flowering July - September. Perennial. Native. Small short-stalked umbels of white flowers, terminal and in leaf-axils. Bracts and bracteoles leaf-like. Fruit almost spherical, deeply divided with long styles. Leaves in 7-10 pairs, bluish-green, deep-toothed, once-pinnate. Ring-mark always present on stem just above leaf-axil. Sprawling growth, spreading runners. Height 30-100cm. Poisonous. Occasional to locally frequent in Ireland as an aquatic or at the edge of ponds, fens and waterways. Also found on seasonally flooded ground. Similar: Fools Water-cress, Apium nodiflorum

Lesser Water-parsnip, Berula erecta, Ráib uisce