St. Lawrence County Wildlife Management officials are warning residents to be careful around wild parsnip, an invasive plant capable of causing severe skin burns and other serious injuries.<\/p>\n
Officials say\u00a0 the yellow-topped plant is spreading extensively along roadways throughout St. Lawrence County.<\/p>\n
The St. Lawrence County Environmental Management Council says the plant is now commonly found along county, town and state road shoulders. Officials are urging municipalities to adjust mowing schedules to help limit the spread before the plant produces seed.<\/p>\n
Wild parsnip typically matures in late summer and is easily identified by its large clusters of bright yellow flowers, which stand out among the white blooms of Queen Anne’s Lace often growing nearby.<\/p>\n
The plant’s sap poses a significant health hazard. When sap from broken leaves or stems comes into contact with skin and is exposed to sunlight, it can cause phytophotodermatitis, a severe reaction that produces painful, blistering burns similar to second-degree burns. The resulting scars can remain visible for years.<\/p>\n
Officials also warn people to avoid touching their eyes after handling the plant, as exposure to the sap can cause blindness.<\/p>\n
Anyone working around wild parsnip should wear protective clothing, including gloves and eye protection. Skin exposed to the sap should be washed thoroughly as soon as possible, and contaminated clothing should be washed immediately after use.<\/p>\n
The Environmental Management Council says the most effective way to control wild parsnip is to prevent it from producing seed. Mowing or cutting plants repeatedly during the growing season is recommended, with at least one mowing taking place in late summer when the plants are in full bloom. Cutting at that stage prevents seed production and reduces the likelihood that new flowers will develop before the first frost.<\/p>\n
Officials also recommend washing mowing and cutting equipment after use to prevent the spread of seeds.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"St. Lawrence County Wildlife Management officials are warning residents to be careful around wild parsnip, an invasive plant…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":66033,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[21036],"tags":[49838,34410,49847,49848,49832,49849,49843,49835,49844,49834,902,49836,49833,15580,9695,49845,49837,49846,49850,49852,49851,49841,49842,49840,49839],"class_list":["post-66032","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sap","tag-adirondack-foothills","tag-adirondacks","tag-alcoa","tag-arconic","tag-canton","tag-clarkson-university","tag-fishing","tag-gouverneur","tag-hunting","tag-massena","tag-new-york","tag-north-country","tag-ogdensburg","tag-potsdam","tag-sap","tag-snowmobiling","tag-st-lawrence-county","tag-st-lawrence-seaway","tag-st-lawrence-university","tag-suny-canton","tag-suny-potsdam","tag-village-of-canton","tag-village-of-massena","tag-village-of-norwood","tag-village-of-potsdam"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66032","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=66032"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66032\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/66033"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=66032"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=66032"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=66032"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}