A WARNING
WILD CARROTS AND HEMLOCK
While out walking last week I realised the grassy bank was covered in new smallish plants. I thought I recognised this plant as a wild carrot. I know it grows around here, this is the perfect habitat, grassy, wild and by the sea. I thought it could be useful, I thought if I collected some I could taker it home, positively identify it and maybe even use it. Enjoying my walk and happily wandered along the cliff edge path I occasionally stopped to put some of this plant in my bag.
WILD CARROT
Queen Anne's lace or wild carrot, herb ( Daucus carota ) of the family Umbelliferae ( carrot family), native to the Old World but naturalized and often weedy throughout North America and Europe. Similar in appearance to the cultivated carrot (which was derived from this plant), it has feathery foliage but a woody root. The tiny white flowers bloom in a lacy, flat-topped cluster (called an umbel) until they die off, when the cluster becomes nest-shaped. The plant was formerly used in folk medicine as a diuretic and a stimulant. Queen Anne's lace is classified in the , class Magnoliopsida, order Apiales, family Umbelliferae.
http://www.botanical.com/botanical/mgmh/c/carwil25.html
Traditional Medicinal Uses---
Diuretic and stimulant. An infusion of the whole herb is considered an active and valuable remedy in the treatment of chronic kidney diseases and affections of the bladder. The infusion, made from 1 OZ. of the herb in a pint of boiling water, is taken in wineglassful doses. Carrot tea brewed in this way from the whole front, is considered excellent for a variety of arthritic conditions.
The seeds are very useful in flatulence, colic, hiccough, dysentery, coughs, etc. The dose of the seeds, bruised, is from one-third to one teaspoonful, repeated as necessary. They were at one time considered a valuable remedy for calculus complaints. They have a slight aromatic smell and a warm, pungent taste. They add an agreeable flavour to malt liquor, if infused in it while working in the vat. Traditionally, in herbal medicine a poultice made of the roots and applied to ulcers.
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HEMLOCK
http://www.pfaf.org/database/plants.php?Conium+maculatum
A very poisonous plant, the toxins are especially concentrated in the seed. The stems contain up to 0.06% of the toxic alkaloids, the leaves between 0.03 and 0.8%, the flowers from 0.09 to 0.24% and the green fruit from 0.73 to 0.98%. The toxins, however, are very volatile and decompose readily especially when the plant is dried or cookedThe toxins paralyse the respiratory nerves, causing death by suffocation. Children have been known to die after using the hollow stems as blowpipes. The poisonous nature of the plant varies considerably, with many people believing that the plant is less toxic when grown in cooler climates, but this is not scientifically recognised. It grows through out Europe, Scandinavia and America.
How Poisonous, How Harmful?
Five alkaloids are present. Coniine is the most important but it also has Conhydrine, pseudoconhydrine, methyl-coniine and ethyl-piperidine. It is a violent emetic and convulsive, it causes paralysis of central and peripheral nervous system and death by respiratory failure. In Plato’s ‘Phaedo’ the fictionalised account of Socrates’ death there is no mention of nausea and vomiting. It may be that whilst the plant material is emetic juice obtained from squeezing the stalks does not have this effect.
Being a member of the same family as carrot and fennel, there have been instances of poisonous hemlock being mistaken for an edible plant.
What plant did I have you ask??? I have no idea, I didn’t keep it long enough to find out, it is now quietly rotting in my compostor.
Found this video, thought it was quite funny and it fits well with the topic, apologies about the poor quality of the video though, I included it because thought it was funny.
