Plant · P-277

Turnip Rooted Chervil

Chaerophyllum bulbosum

Turnip-rooted chervil is a biennial umbellifer grown for its tough, aromatic taproot, which takes a full year of growth before it is lifted in early summer. The root only turns sweet and floury after several weeks in cold storage. Its seed is unusually fussy to germinate, needing weeks of near-freezing chill and losing viability fast once dried. The foliage can be confused with poison hemlock, a genuinely dangerous relative in the same family, so a confident identification matters before anyone gathers it in the wild.