Heracleum he·rac·leum uncommon noun 1. widely distributed genus of plants with usually thick rootstocks and large umbels of white flowers Synonymsgenus Heracleum Related words Word family Heracleum sphondylium Broader terms rosid dicot genus Parts Umbelliferae Part of cow parsnip WordNet 2.1 (Princeton University). WordNet 2.1 Copyright Princeton University. All rights reserved.