IDENTIFICATION
Regional Noxious. Annual, biennial, or short-lived perennial. Wild
chervil has white flowers in small, umbrella-like clusters on long
stalks. Each flower produces two joined seeds with antenna-like ends.
It has triangular, fern-like leaves which are smooth or softly hairy.
Mature plants grow 0.3 - 1.8 m tall.
DAMAGE
Wild chervil competes with pasture and hay crops and livestock
will graze it only when it is young. It acts as a host for a viral disease
that infects other plants in the same family, such as carrots, parsnips,
and celery. It is difficult to control because of its very deep root system
and tolerance to herbicides. Since this weed is well adapted to ditches
and moist woods, native riverbank plant communities are at risk.
HABITAT
Wild chervil grows under a range of conditions but thrives in wet-to-moist
disturbed
sites, especially where soils are rich. In British Columbia, it grows
at low to mid-elevations. It is spreading rapidly in the Abbotsford-Chilliwack
areas of the Fraser Valley. It occurs in the province's southeast and
has recently been found near Clinton.
SPREAD
Birds, water, and human activity spread seeds and the buds at the top
of the root form new plants.
