Maritimers are being urged to watch for dangerous plants, similar to hogweed, that bring a risk of severe burns and even blindness.
Wayne Browne says he is quickly becoming a self-taught expert on dangerous plants after his two-year-old granddaughter came in contact with wild parsnip.
“There was this plant, nice big yellow flowers on it, and they thought they’d go and touch it and look at it and I’m glad they didn’t smell the flowers,” says Browne.
Sap from wild parsnips can cause burns, which is what happened to Browne’s granddaughter. Other side effects can include blindness if contact is made with the eyes but symptoms may not appear immediately.
“This may take a few days and it’s activated by exposure to sunlight or ultraviolet light,” says Stephen Clayden, curator of the New Brunswick Museum.
Browne says his granddaughter is still revering from the burn on one of her hands.
“My understanding is that those blisters last up to two months and it’s been about two months now since the incident occurred,” he says.
Wild parsnip, for the most part, has the same compounds as hogweed – another dangerous plant which can also result in skin being burned.
It appears wild parsnip is becoming more common, sprouting up along roads and ditches.
Areas where wild parsnip was growing alongside the Saint John Harbour passage have been cut away but it hasn’t disappeared completely.
“Right now, we’re in a reactive phase, but next year we hope to be a little more proactive, especially now that we know it’s prevalent in some areas,” says Emily Murphy, a Rockwood Park naturalist.
She says the warnings are not meant to discourage people from getting close to nature, but to increase awareness about the plant.
With files from CTV Atlantic's Nick Moore
