What is poison hemlock? The poison hemlock (Conium maculatum L.) is a dangerous plant that grows throughout the United States. The hemlock plant has white flowers that grow in clusters, and the stem has purple spots. This plant can grow up to 9 feet tall. It was initially brought over from Europe as a garden plant. Hemlock typically grows in the spring, but in some locations it can grow as year-round. Hemlock poisoning occurs after ingesting any part of the plant, such as the seeds, flowers, leaves, or fruits. All parts of this plant contain toxic alkaloids that can be fatal even in small amounts. The alkaloids can affect nerve impulse transmission to your muscles, eventually killing you through respiratory failure. Even touching this plant may cause a skin reaction in some people. To date, there is no antidote. The leaves are particularly poisonous in the spring, up until it produces flowers. The roots of poison hemlock can easily be mistaken for wild parsnips, while the leaves can be mistaken for parsley. This is the primary culprit for accidental poisoning. Poison hemlock is often found on roadsides, in waste areas and near fences. It can be mixed in with harmless plants in pastures and crops, making this plant particularly dangerous to livestock. However, its unpleasant, musty odor usually causes animals to avoid it unless there is no other foliage or feed available to eat. Poison hemlock is also known as:
To date, there is no antidote for hemlock poisoning. Treatment depends on the severity of your condition and your symptoms. If you’re having difficulty breathing, your doctor will look for ways to secure your airway and may assist with ventilation. Your doctor will also try to decontaminate your gastrointestinal tract in order to remove the hemlock from your system. If you begin to experience seizures, you may be treated with antiseizure medication to lessen symptoms. You may also be treated with fluids intravenously to prevent dehydration and restore nutrient levels. Removing this plant is the primary method of prevention. Experts recommend digging out small patches to remove them, being sure to remove the root. Cutting or mowing hemlock plants can cause them to resprout and emit toxic fumes if they’ve already matured. Don’t burn these plants. The fumes can trigger asthma symptoms and increase your risk of developing a reaction. You can also use herbicides to kill hemlock plants, but they are useless after hemlocks have sprouted flowers. The best time to use herbicides is in the late fall or early spring, right as the plants begin to grow. Before interacting with poison hemlock plants, wear gloves, face masks, and other protective clothing to prevent an adverse reaction. After removing hemlock, place the plants in a plastic bag before throwing them in the trash to avoid further contamination. Hemlock poisoning can be fatal, and there is no antidote. Symptoms can begin showing as early as 30 minutes after ingesting the plant. The severity of your poisoning depends on how much hemlock is in your system and how toxic the plant was at the time of ingestion. Use caution when touching or experimenting with new plants. If you’re foraging, pay special attention to plants that look like wild carrots, parsnips, parsley, and other vegetables and herbs to ensure it’s not hemlock. If you begin experiencing irregular symptoms after eating a plant or herb, seek immediate medical attention.
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Hemlock is a famously poisonous plant that resembles a flowering fern. No matter how hungry you are when you're lost in the woods, you should never eat hemlock. There are actually several toxic varieties of hemlock (as well as the harmless North American hemlock tree), but the most infamous is known by the genus name Conium. This hemlock causes death by slowly paralyzing the body, eventually including the respiratory system, while the poisoned person's mind remains alert. The Greek philosopher Socrates was found guilty of heresy in 399 BCE and sentenced to drink hemlock-based poison.
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All week on Wild Things we’ll be presenting our favorite dangerous, horrifying, and monstrous plants, excerpted from The Big, Bad Book of Botany: The World’s Most Fascinating Flora by Michael Largo. Out now from William Morrow. Hemlock is yet another highly toxic plant that can cause serious health problems, even death. Conium maculatum is a genus of two poisonous species of herbaceous, perennial, flowering herbs in the Apiaceae family. The hemlock species is native to the Mediterranean region, and the other, called Conium chaerophylloides, comes from Southern Africa. Some theorize the name of “hemlock” comes from the Old English “humlice,” which was the name of the tree. The plant has other names, such as woomlick, beaver poison, poison parsley, bunk, hever, caise, devil’s flower, and gypsy flower. It even has more regional nicknames: break-your-mother’s-heart (wow!), lady’s lace, scabby hands, and others. A very inspiring plant, obviously. The conium name derives from the Greek konas, meaning “vertigo” or “whirl”—both symptoms of the plant’s intoxicating poison. Hemlock is a biennial, herbaceous plant that can grow from 3 to 5 feet tall. It has a smooth green stem, often streaked or spotted on the lower half with purple or red—a warning from nature of the plant’s toxicity. Its leaves have an overall triangular shape, divided and lacy, growing about 1½ feet long and nearly as wide. Its small white flowers, clustered in umbels, are a ½ inch in diameter. When you crush a hemlock leaf or root, it emits an unpleasant, rank odor, similar to that of parsnips. Hemlock is native to the tempered regions of West Asia, Europe, and North Africa, but has since spread to North America, Australia, and New Zealand. It often grows near surface waters, such as streams and ditches, as well as on waste areas, on roadsides, and on the edges of cultivated fields. In some countries, it is treated as an invasive plant. Conium maculatum prefers damp areas with poorly drained soils; it flourishes in early spring, before other foliage appears. Hemlock is not actually related to the hemlock tree, which is in the pine family, and not at all poisonous. The tree gets its name from its needles, which, when crushed, give off a similar smell to the toxic hemlock shrub. Hemlock contains conhydrine, N-methylconine, but its most poisonous alkaloid is coniine, which has a chemical structure similar to nicotine. This poison disrupts the central nervous system—a small dose can cause respiratory collapse. Death can result from blockage of the neuromuscular junction caused by coniine. In practice, it eventually stops your ability to breathe, causing you to suffocate. This won’t happen right off, and drinking its tea only makes you feel drunk at first. It may take from 48 to 72 hours for the full toxic effects to manifest. If you find yourself so poisoned, only artificial or mechanical ventilation can save you. According to Christian mythology, the hemlock plant became poisonous after growing on the hillside of Jesus’ crucifixion. When his blood touched the plant, it turned forever toxic. However, the most infamous poisoning by hemlock is attributed to the Greek philosopher Socrates, who chose a hemlock drink as his preferred means of death—most sources say that he drank it mixed with water or as a tea. In the Phaedo, Plato claims that Socrates first felt a numbing in his limbs, after which the sensation overtook his entire body. Socrates maintained full awareness throughout his poisoning and even continued to speak to those around who witnessed his death. His last words reportedly were: “Crito, we owe a cock to Asclepius. Please, don’t forget to pay the debt.” Socrates willingly drank the poison after being sentenced to death for his speeches and for his belief in humanistic and democratic principles. When he was ordered to publicly deny his ideas or die, he chose death. However, as a respected gentleman, the court gave him the right to pick the manner in which he wished to have his death sentence carried out. Hemlock tea was his first choice. In Socrates’ last moment of lucidity he mentions the god Asclepius, a mythological deity noted for healing. Scholars surmise that Socrates conceived of his death as a freedom of his soul from the unreasonableness of humanity and the confines of his body. However, Plato’s dignified description of Socrates’ death might be a bit romanticized, since hemlock poisoning would be a lot more painful, accompanied by a convulsive gasping to breathe. Excerpted from The Big, Bad Book of Botany: The World’s Most Fascinating Flora by Michael Largo. Out now from William Morrow, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers. Reprinted by permission. |
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