The parsnip (Pastinaca sativa) is a root vegetable closely related to the carrot and parsley. It is a biennial plant usually grown as an annual. Its long, tuberous root has cream -colored skin and flesh ; and left in the ground to mature, it becomes sweeter in flavor after winter frosts. In its first growing season, the plant has a rosette of pinnate, mid- green leaves. If unharvested, it produces its flowering stem, topped by an umbel of small yellow flowers, in its second growing season. By this time, the stem is woody and the tuber is inedible. The seeds are pale brown, flat, and winged.
The parsnip is native to Eurasia. It has been used as a vegetable since antiquity and was cultivated by the Romans, although some confusion exists in the literature of the time between parsnips and carrots. It was used as a sweetener before the arrival in Europe of cane sugar.
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