6b. Leaf-segments ovate to lanceolate =Golden Alexander, Taenidia integerrima.=

7a. Leaves pinnately compound; some of the leaflets incised or pinnatifid --8.

7b. Leaves ternately compound; the segments crenate or serrate --9.

7c. Leaves deeply palmately cleft or divided; flowers in head-like umbels --18a.

8a. Leaf-segments obtuse, rounded, or cordate at the base (6-15 dm.

high; summer) =Wild Parsnip, Pastinaca sativa.=

8b. Leaf-segments narrowed to the base (4-8 dm. high; spring) =Prairie Parsley, Polytaenia nuttallii.=

9a. Terminal leaflets conspicuously stalked, their total length, including stalk, at least 50% greater than the length of the lateral leaflets (Meadow Parsnip) --10.

9b. Terminal leaflets not conspicuously stalked, their total length, including stalk, about equaling the lateral leaflets (4-8 dm. high; late spring) (Golden Alexander) --12.

10a. Flowers purple (4-8 dm. high; early summer) =Meadow Parsnip, Thaspium aureum var. atropurpureum.=

10b. Flowers yellow --11.

11a. Stem-leaves once-ternate; leaflets finely serrate (4-8 dm. high; early summer) =Meadow Parsnip, Thaspium aureum.=

11b. Many stem-leaves 2-3-ternate; leaflets coa.r.s.ely serrate or incised (6-12 dm. high; early summer) =Meadow Parsnip, Thaspium barbinode.=

12a. Basal and lower stem-leaves 2-3-ternate =Golden Alexander, Zizia aurea.=

12b. Basal leaves simple; stem-leaves once-ternate =Golden Alexander, Zizia cordata.=

13a. Leaves once-pinnate (or the submerged leaves decompound, if present) (summer) --14.

13b. Leaves ternately, palmately, or 2-3-pinnately compound --16.

14a. Leaflets mostly ovate or ovate-lanceolate, some of them coa.r.s.ely incised (3-9 dm. high) =Water Parsnip, Berula erecta.=

14b. Leaflets linear to oblong, serrate to nearly entire, not incised (6-15 dm. high) --15.

15a. Leaflets entire, or with a few low remote teeth =Cowbane, Oxypolis rigidior.=

15b. Leaflets finely but sharply serrate =Water Parsnip, Sium cicutaefolium.=

16a. Leaves princ.i.p.ally basal, decompound; flowers in early spring (1-2 dm. high) =Harbinger of Spring, Erigenia bulbosa.=

16b. Leaves princ.i.p.ally on the stem --17.

17a. Leaves palmately or ternately once-compound --18.

17b. Leaves 2-3 times compound or decompound --24.

18a. Flowers short-pedicelled, crowded in head-like umbels, greenish; ovary bristly (4-9 dm. high; early summer) (Black Snakeroot) --19.

18b. Flowers in open umbels, white --22.

19a. Styles short, not projecting beyond the bristles of the mature fruit --20.

19b. Styles long, projecting beyond the bristles of the fruit, and recurved --21.

20a. Staminate flowers on pedicels 3-4 mm. long, equaling or barely exceeding the fruit =Black Snakeroot, Sanicula trifoliata.=

20b. Staminate flowers short-pedicelled, concealed among the fruits =Black Snakeroot, Sanicula canadensis.=

21a. Fruit short-stalked, 4 mm. long or less =Black Snakeroot, Sanicula gregaria.=

21b. Fruit sessile, 6-7 mm. long =Black Snakeroot, Sanicula marilandica.=

22a. Umbel unsymmetrical, its branches irregular in length; plant slender (3-8 dm. tall; early summer) =Honewort, Cryptotaenia canadensis.=

22b. Umbel symmetrical with regular branches; plants tall and stout --23.

23a. Stem and leaves very p.u.b.escent (10-25 dm. high; summer) =Cow Parsnip, Heracleum lanatum.=

23b. Stem and leaves glabrous or nearly so (5-15 dm. high; early summer) =Masterwort, Imperatoria ostruthium.=

24a. Ovary and fruit bristly (4-10 dm. high) --25.

24b. Ovary and fruit smooth or winged, never bristly --27.

25a. Umbels loose, open, few-flowered; woodland plants blooming in spring (Sweet Cicely) --26.

25b. Umbels densely flowered; weedy plants blooming from summer to fall =Wild Carrot, Daucus carota.=

26a. Stem villous-p.u.b.escent =Sweet Cicely, Osmorhiza claytoni.=

26b. Stem glabrous except at the joints =Sweet Cicely, Osmorhiza longistylis.=

27a. Leaflets merely serrate (flowers in summer) --28.

27b. Leaflets coa.r.s.ely incised, so that the leaf appears dissected --30.

28a. Umbel densely p.u.b.escent (8-15 dm. high) =Angelica, Angelica villosa.=

28b. Umbel smooth --29.

29a. Leaf-segments broadly ovate (8-15 dm. high) =Angelica, Angelica atropurpurea.=

29b. Leaf-segments lanceolate (8-15 dm. high) =Water Hemlock, Cicuta maculata.=

29c. Leaf-segments linear (4-10 dm. high) =Water Hemlock, Cicuta bulbifera.=

30a. Princ.i.p.al branches of the umbel 2-5; fruit linear-oblong; woodland plants blooming in spring (2-4 dm. high) =Chervil, Chaerophyllum proc.u.mbens.=