Index / Search / Heracleum maximum
§1 Plant — species · Apiaceae
Heracleum maximum W. Bartram
vernacular common cowparsnip
§2Habit & range
Habit and range
- Growth habit
- Forb/herb
- Duration
- Perennial
- Group
- Dicot
- Family
- Apiaceae Lindl.
- Genus
- Heracleum
§2a
Native status, by region
- AK Alaska Native
- CAN Canada Native
- L48 Lower 48 States Native
- SPM St. Pierre & Miquelon Native
§3Cultivation specs · USDA
Recorded by the USDA Plant Materials Program.
§3a
Tolerances
- Drought
- Low
- Shade
- High
- Moisture use
- High
- Fire
- High
- Salinity
- None
- Anaerobic
- Medium
- CaCO₃
- Medium
- Hedging
- None
§3b
Climate & soil
- Cold tolerance
- -38 °F minimum
- Frost-free days
- 110 min.
- Precipitation
- 14–45 in/yr
- pH range
- 5.4–7.3
- Root depth
- 12 in min.
- Fertility need
- Medium
- Soil texture
- coarse, medium, fine
§3c
Form & growth
- Growth form
- Multiple Stem
- Growth rate
- Moderate
- Lifespan
- Short
- Mature height
- 8 ft
- Foliage texture
- Coarse
- Foliage colour
- Green
- Porosity (summer)
- Porous
- Porosity (winter)
- Porous
- Flower colour
- White
- Fruit colour
- Brown
- Fire resistant
- No
- N fixation
- None
- Toxicity
- Slight
§3d
Reproduction
- Bloom period
- Early Summer
- Seed abundance
- High
- Seed begins
- Summer
- Seed ends
- Summer
- Spread rate
- Rapid
- Stratify
- No
- Seeds / lb
- 47,569
- Propagation
- seed
§3e
Use & availability
- Commercial availability
- Routinely Available
- Nursery stock
- No
- Browse palatability
- Medium
- Graze palatability
- Medium
- Palatable, human
- Yes
- Protein potential
- Low
- Lumber
- No
- Christmas tree
- No
§4Montana distribution
Recorded in 26 of 56 Montana counties.
Native · 26 counties
- Beaverhead 30001
- Broadwater 30007
- Carter 30011
- Cascade 30013
- Chouteau 30015
- Fergus 30027
- Flathead 30029
- Gallatin 30031
- Glacier 30035
- Jefferson 30043
- Lake 30047
- Lewis and Clark 30049
- Lincoln 30053
- Madison 30057
- Missoula 30063
- Park 30067
- Phillips 30071
- Pondera 30073
- Powell 30077
- Rosebud 30087
- Sanders 30089
- Stillwater 30095
- Sweet Grass 30097
- Teton 30099
- Valley 30105
- Yellowstone 30111
§5Sources & provenance
USDA PLANTS
Symbol, taxonomy, distribution, cultivation specs, native status. Public domain.
plants.usda.gov/HEMA80 ↗GBIF Backbone
Canonical taxonomic identity, synonym resolution, cross-refs. CC0.
gbif.org/species/3034826 ↗Record version
Cached and built locally. Source version on this record:
usda-plants-mt-2026-05-25
fetched 2026-05-25T16:28:53Z