Billy wrote:

A parsnip from last year, that was overlooked, due to a rampaging
raccoon, who also took out the majority of the carrots, is 5 feet
tall, 1 foot shorter than my tallest sunflower. Is this normal?

It's pretty big, mostly they are about 3-4ft tall at flowering here. OTOH
sunflowers can reach 8ft

Is
there any chance that the parsnip is still edible?

It will be big and probably too tough to eat boiled as a vegetable but some
grated will flavour a stew or soup.


I'm presuming that
it's past its "best used by" date and I'm waiting to see its floral
side.

The flower is not spectacular but the seed heads are interesting with many
"winged" seeds. Leaving a few parsnips to seed is good because it is a
plant whose seed doesn't stay viable very long so the fresh self-sown seeds
are often a better bet than those saved for years. The volunteers you don't
want are easy to pull out when small.

David