Spring Greens: Bur Chervil, Anthriscus caucalis (with Cleavers, Galium aparine) in Limpenhoe churchyard, Norfolk, 25th March 2022.

The hedgerows are starting to brighten up after winter, with Spring flowers – Dandelions, Red Deadnettles, Primroses, Cowslips and many more. These are backed by fresh, bright green growth.

One of the freshest greens on roadsides last week was Bur Chervil, Anthriscus caucalis. It’s a plant that can hide in plain sight, and you’d probably drive past in a car without noticing it. But if you’re cycling or walking, the plant is easy to spot and it’s surprisingly common in many parts of Norfolk.

Anthriscus caucalis is an annual plant and is a close relative of Cow Parsley, Anthriscus sylvestris, which is a more robust biennial or short-lived perennial. It likes light, sandy or gravelly soils and is concentrated in East Anglia, although it has a scattered distribution elsewhere in the British Isles (note 1).

I first noticed large amounts of Bur Chervil in the spring of 2020 when I cycled on the B1113 near Bracon Ash, just outside Norwich. In the last week I’ve noticed it on verges on the hill up to Arminghall and in Limpenhoe churchyard. It favours a south-facing aspect (often at the base of a hedge) and the plant flowers and dies by midsummer, leaving little or no trace until the following spring.

The whole plant is more delicate than Cow Parsley and it grows to about half the height of its commoner relative, to 70cm (about 30 inches) rather than 1.5m (60 inches). Its leaves are fern-like and the flower heads are carried in small clusters (opposite the leaves) in May or June. Its seeds are oval, narrowing towards the beaked tip and are covered in hooked spines. The spines (hairs) can hook to animal fur and woolly clothing and Mike Crewe notes how Bur Chervil is commonly found around rabbit burrows, where the animals have groomed the fruits out of their fur (note 2).

Bur Chervil, Anthriscus caucalis, in flower at Ringstead Downs, Norfolk, 9th May 2021.

Bur Chervil is sometimes also known as Beaked Parsley and ‘Bur’ can also be spelt ‘Burr’.

Outside the British Isles, Anthriscus caucalis is native in many other European countries, as far east as Ukraine and the north Caucasus, and in the Middle East (Turkey, Syria and Lebanon) and parts of North Africa (Algeria and Morocco).

The plant has spread widely beyond its native range. Perhaps some of the spread has been on sheep’s wool, like Stinking Fleabane (note 3).

Anthriscus caucalis has been introduced to Norway (though it is native to Sweden) and to parts of North and South America, including the United States, Canada, Argentina and Chile. It has recently been introduced to parts of China, CABI’s Invasive Species Compendium lists it as an introduced plant in Kyrgyzstan, South Korea and Australia and Robinne Weiss found it in her garden in New Zealand. (Strangely, Kew’s Plants of the World Online website says it is native to north-east Argentina, a long way from (the rest of) its native range.)

Introduced plants have the potential to become a problem in wild areas and Bur Chervil is pictured in the online Invasive Plant Atlas of the United States (one picture is entitled “Infestation”). There is concern that Bur Chervil can form dense colonies if the conditions are right, but it is not Bur Chervil but Cow Parsley, its close relative, that is listed as a noxious weed in Washington state. A 2018 research paper suggests that Anthriscus caucalis is potentially invasive in Polish forests (note 4).

The Weed Report posted online (from the book “Weed Control in Natural Areas in the Western United States”) recommends control of Bur Chervil by hand-pulling but also lists an array of herbicides that could be used (note 5).

I normally include information on whether a plant is edible or poisonous, but there seems to be surprisingly little data for Bur Chervil, apart from a Chinese paper from 2018 (note 6).

Bur Chervil’s British relatives are certainly edible. Garden Chervil, Anthriscus cerefolium is a well-known and delicious herb (note 1). Cow Parsley, Anthriscus sylvestris, can be eaten too – see my May 2014 blog post and the Eat The Weeds website  for suggestions. But Bur Chervil, who knows? (note 7).

I am going to err on the side of caution, so I don’t plan to eat Bur Chervil any time soon. As well as many edible species, the Carrot family (Apiaceae) contains some very toxic plants, such as Hemlock (Conium maculatum), Fool’s Parsley (Aethusa cynapium) and Hemlock Water Dropwort (Oenanthe crocata). The latter has been described as probably “the most toxic plant in Britain to both humans and animals“ (I wrote about it in November 2018).

Notes

Note 1 – Clive Stace’s “New Flora of the British Isles“ lists three species of Anthriscus. (See page 857; Fourth Edition, 2019.)

The third species is Garden Chervil, Anthriscus cerefolium. This is used as a kitchen herb and can be grown in the garden in light but quite moist soil or in pots outdoors. It adds a delicate, parsley-like flavour (with a hint of aniseed) to dishes and is one of the traditional fines herbes of French cuisine. I’ve grown it on the allotment in semi-shade but it bolts far too quickly in East Anglian spring sunshine and drought.

Note 2 – Mike’s Flora of East Anglia: An Identification Guide website has good photos of But Chervil and other Umbellifers with Rough or Hairy Fruits. Cow Parsley is on the page Long-fruited Umbellifers. As always, I also recommend the Wildflower Finder website for its excellent photographs.

Note 3 – Robinne Weiss thinks “The plant almost certainly arrived in New Zealand on the back of an imported sheep“, thanks to the spines on its seeds.

Note 4 – R. Puchalka, L. Rutkowski, M. Popa, A. Pliszko and M. Piwczynski (2018), “Bur-Chervil Anthriscus caucalis M. Bieb. (Apiaceae) – potentially invasive species in forests“. Baltic Forestry Vol. 24, pp189 – 200.

Bur Chervil was formerly in decline in Poland but seems to have benefitted from human disturbance: “Forest areas in Europe are prone to alien plant invasions, especially when exposed to disturbance, fragmentation, alien propagule pressure and high soil nutrient levels“.

Note 5 – I also found a Farmers Weekly article which lists the herbicides used by some conventional farmers to prevent Bur Chervil becoming a problem in wheat and oil-seed rape fields in the UK . Note to self: buy organic food wherever possible.

Note 6 – P. Lai, H. Rao and Y. Gau (2018), “Chemical Composition, Cytotoxic, Antimicrobial and Antioxidant Activities of Essential oil from Anthriscus caucalis M. Bieb Grown in China”. Records of Natural Products, Vol. 12, pp290 – 294. The essential oil has antioxidant properties but also appears to be cytotoxic.

Note 7 – If you know, please tell me so I can share the information.

Update 31st March 2022: I asked my friend Stephen Barstow (author of “Around The World in 80 Plants : An Edible Perennial Vegetable Adventure For Temperate Climates“) if he had any information on edible uses for Bur Chervil.

He found just a single reference, to the use of Anthriscus caucalis and Anthriscus sylvestris in Azerbaijani cuisine. The leaves and young shoots of both plants are sometimes used in dovga (a soup made from yoghurt and herbs) and qutab (a pattie filled with a variety of ingredients, cooked on a griddle).