Edible roots include cassava, sweet potato, beet, carrot, rutabaga, turnip, parsnip, radish, yam and horseradish. Their flavor has been compared to celery, parsnip, or stale biscuits. Characteristic plants include milk parsley, greater water parsnip and lesser reedmace. The parsnip is usually cooked, but it can also be eaten raw. Common names for the genus or its species include hogweed and cow parsnip. All water hemlock and poison hemlock are highly poisonous, but water parsnip is not. Cow parsnip is a tall herbaceous plant reaching heights of over . Water hemlock also has a large swelling at the stem base which water parsnip lacks. Polyynes can be found in Apiaceae vegetables such as parsnip, and they show cytotoxic activities. Parsnip canker is a serious disease of this crop. Parsnip seed significantly deteriorates in viability if stored for long. Plants in this genus may also be referred to as cowbane or poison parsnip. Up to 20% of the fruits of wild parsnip are parthenocarpic. The native peoples were well aware of the toxic effects of cow parsnip. Their territory includes the Finlay and Parsnip River drainages of the Rocky Mountain Trench.