To All,
    There has been no mention made of wild parsnip.  After 20 years of
working in Maine I finally ran into it while clearing an overgrown field
with weed-whackers.  The two people using the machines were luckily wearing
long pants and long sleeve shirts, but next day their faces, hands, wrists,
and especially their necks were covered with nasty looking blisters.  Most
of the crew had blisters on knees and shins from kneeling in it.  One guy
was so bad he couldn't bend his knees.
    Wild parsnip can grow up to five feet tall, has domed shaped cluster of
yellow flowers looking vaguely like Queen Anne's lace.  The sap on the skin
reacts to sunlight and causes burns.  It doesn't itch like poison ivy but
the scars and skin discoloration can last for years.  According to the web
it is pretty common in Wisconsin.  Anyone else run into it?

Lee Cranmer
Maine Historic Preservation Commission