Heracleum maximum
I think Cow parsnip is spectacular. Nice to have a substantial shrub-sized native that will take up some real estate out there. Its scientific name (yes, it was named for Hercules) makes me think it ought to be a character in Transformers cartoons--it sounds like "Optimus Prime"! Anyway, one farmer I know thought it was hilarious that I was planting Cow parsnip, but I love it.
I do have a public-service announcement related to this. You may have heard of a really-awful non-native invasive plant called "Giant hogweed." It is for real, and it is in fact a relative of Cow parsnip--its scientific name is Heracleum mantegazzianum. It apparently gives people nasty burns and there is an effort to eradicate it, for good reason. I have heard that some people are sensitive to Cow parsnip, too--apparently, it can irritate the skin--but nothing like Giant hogweed. So, I sincerely hope people don't start going after cow parnsip, a benign native, which grows all over the Pacific Northwest.
Here's a link to the Wikipedia article on Giant hogweed, and it includes a section comparing Giant hogweed and Cow parnsip (scroll down to "similar species").
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