This biennial is widely naturalized and locally abundant on damp fertile soils in much of temperate North America; the parsnip is a cultivar selected from the wild type. In Ky. it has probably been common since the mid-1800s or before (Gray 1864; Gm), at least in farmland on the best soils. Although the cultivated parsnip is potentially delicious when cooked, some people have a fierce dislike of them, and several other taxa in the Angelica group are toxic (e.g. Berenbaum 1981). Wild parsnips in particular are known to cause photodermatitis in livestock and humans; "The most serious toxic effect of the linear furanocoumarins is adduction to pyrimidines, which may be followed by photo-activated covalent cross-linking of DNA strands compromising transcription and replication" (Cain et al. 2010). J. Thieret (pers. comm.) reported that he got skin rashes (and a permanent blister in one case) from handling leaves of wild plants. However, S. Price (pers. comm.), of Georgetown Ky., has found that roasted roots dug in March are quite palatable.