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Let’s say you find a lime, a celery stalk, and one of those wild parsnip plants that Ottawa is spraying everywhere. Which one do you avoid touching?

You may be worried about the wrong plant, even as the city wages a $100,000 campaign to destroy wild parsnip.

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The tall, yellow flowering plant native to Europe has sap that can induce painful skin burns in a minority of people. Ottawa has sprayed 250 kilometres of roadsides and some parks to kill it, and wants anyone who sees it to call 311 or use an online reporting form.

Across Eastern Ontario, many municipalities are warning that it can cause burns and even blindness.

All of which mystifies some nature experts, who say it’s not a big threat at all.

Environmental consultant Dan Brunton has spent most of his 65 years doing field work and knows the plant well. He has never suffered a parsnip burn or met anyone else who has, though he gets poison ivy rashes each year.