Conium maculatum, Hemlock, Poison hemlock

Conium maculatum, the hemlock or poison hemlock, is a highly poisonous plant belonging to the same carrot family (Apiaceae) as carrots, parsnips, fennel, and dill. The plant is native to Europe (i.e. Denmark, Finland, Ireland, Norway, Sweden, UK, Austria, Belgium, Czechoslovakia, Germany, Hungary, the Netherlands, Poland, Switzerland, Belarus, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Moldova, Ukraine, Albania, Bulgaria, Greece, Italy, Romania, Yugoslavia, France, Portugal, and Spain), northern Africa (i.e. Algeria, Morocco, Tunisia and Ethiopia), western Asia, China and the Indian Sub-continent (i.e. northern India and northern Pakistan). It is a hardy plant capable of living in a variety of environments; hemlock is widely naturalized in locations outside its native range, such as parts of North and South America, Australia and West Asia, to which it has been introduced.

Common hemlock, deadly hemlock, California fern, carrot fern, fool’s parsley, hemlock, poison fool’s parsley, poison hemlock, poison parsley, poison root, snakeweed, spotted hemlock, spotted parsley, wild carrot, wild parsnip, winter fern, wode whistle, Canada pitch tree, hemlock gum tree, hemlock pitch tree, hemlock tree, eastern hemlock, weeping spruce, pine tops, tanner’s bark, hemlock bark, hemlock leaves, hemlock spruce, water hemlock, spotted cowbane, herb bennet, spotted corobane and musquash root is some of the popular common names of the plant. The generic name Conium is derived from the Greek word koneion or konas, meaning to whirl about, because the consumption of the plant causes ataxia, tremor and convulsions. The specific epithet maculatum is from the Latin and means “spotted,” “blotched,” or “bearing spots,” referring to the purplish mottling of the stems. According to legend, the purplish mottling represents the brand of Cain, put thereafter he had committed murder.

Hemlock Facts

Plant Description

Conium maculatum is a highly poisonous, upright, and short-lived biennial herbaceous flowering plant that normally grows about 1.5–2.5 m (5–8 ft.) tall. It is less readily confused with harmless cow parsley, with very pale, weaker stems and tiny red-and-green leaves next to many of its flower stems which colonizes bright areas. The plant is found growing in grassland, forest margins, riparian habitats, freshwater wetlands, waste ground, disturbed sites, field margins, and fallows, riverbeds, palustral, forest margins, stockyards, along roadsides, riverbanks, hedgerows, roadsides, banks of streams, and rivers, pastures, and wood lots. The plant is often found in poorly drained soil, mainly near streams, ditches and other watery surfaces. The plant has a long taproot that is forked, white or pale yellow and 1-2 cm in diameter.

Stem

The stem is flattened during the rosette stage and elongates during the second year to form an upright flower stalk that is 2 to 8 feet tall. It is erect, smooth, slightly ridged, stout below, much-branched above and hollow, and is bright green. It is distinctively mottled with small irregular purple spots.

Leaves

The alternately arranged leaves are borne on long hollow leaf stalks (i.e. petioles) that tend to sheath the stem at their bases. They are deeply divided with toothed (i.e. serrate) segments, and are ferny in appearance. These leaves are up to 50 cm long and 40 cm wide, but more commonly 12-25 cm long and are hairless (i.e. glabrous). Leaves attach to stems by way of leaf stalks (petioles) marked with purplish spots or blotches. Petioles broaden at their base and encircle the stem at each node. Upper leaf surfaces are dark green in color, while their undersides are a paler green or greyish-green. The stems and leaves give off a strong odor when crushed or damaged.

Flowers

The white flowers are borne in large numbers in dense flat-topped clusters at the tips of the branches (i.e. in terminal compound umbels). Individual flowers are small about 2-4 mm across, have five incurved petals and five stamens, and are borne on stalks (i.e. pedicels) up to 5 cm long. Many of these stalks radiate from the same point and form a small cluster of flowers (i.e. an umbel), with several (6-20) of these smaller clusters (often called rays) being grouped together into a much larger cluster (i.e. a compound umbel) that is subtended by several small leafy bracts (about 5 mm long). The petals of the small flowers are white with an inflexed point. The stamens of the flowers are longer than the petals and have white anthers. The inflorescence is produced mainly from June to September.

Fruits

Fruit a woody schizocarp, broadly ovoid, slightly compressed laterally, 2–4 mm long, 2–3 mm wide and 1.5–2 mm thick, with reflexed style remnants at apex of stylopodium and sometimes a pedicel remnant at base. Fruits are initially green turning to greyish-brown in color as it matures. It actually consists of two one-seeded structures (i.e. mericarps) that readily split apart when the fruit is fully mature. Each of these seeds are 2-4 mm long, pale-brown, hairless but has five noticeable yellowish-colored ribs.

Traditional uses and benefits of Hemlock

• It is a narcotic plant that sedates and relieves pain.
• The whole plant is analgesic, antispasmodic, emetic, galactose, and sedative.
• It is a traditional folk treatment for cancer and was formerly widely used internally in very small doses to treat a variety of complaints including tumors, epilepsy, whooping cough, rabies, and as an antidote to strychnine poisoning.
• It is still used externally, usually in ointments and oils, in the treatment of mastitis, malignant tumors (especially breast cancer) anal fissures,s, and hemorrhoids.
• Leaves and stems should be harvested when the first fruits are forming since they are then at their most active medicinally.
• Fruits are gathered either when fully ripe, or before they turn from green to yellow, and are then dried.
• A homeopathic remedy is prepared from a tincture of the fresh plant, harvested when in flower.
• It is used for treating complaints such as dizziness, coughs, insomnia, exhaustion, arteriosclerosis, and prostate problems.
• It cures brain disorders like Anxiety, Epilepsy, Mania, Headache, Insomnia, Vertigo, and Rabies.
• It treats stress-related neurological disorders. These Stress problems may cause a feeling of numbness and weakness in the Hips and the Legs.
• It eases fatigue and energizes the body.
• It is widely used in curing Arteriosclerosis.
• It is beneficial in treating tissue inflammation and the formation of cancerous lumps in the breast. It is a favorable treatment for swollen Breasts.
• Hemlock is a good herbal treatment for Cyst. It counters the tumor growth in the ovary, uterus, and testicles.
• It is beneficial in combating prostate problems namely, Prostate Tumor and Prostate enlargement.
• It relieves muscle cramps and spasms.
• It eases painful Menses. It regulates the menopause cycle, relieves uneasiness, and prevents the formation of red-colored Pimples on the body.
• It heals anal fissures.
• Hemlock curbs sexual disorders like premature ejaculation and sexual dysfunction.
• Its ointment and oil is helpful in treating Piles.
• It is effective in treating urinary disorders like Irregular Urine flow and pain during Urination.
• It acts as an antidote for Strychnine Poisoning.
• Twigs with many needles are used in tea to treat kidney ailments.
• Steam from tea is used to treat rheumatism, colds, and coughs.
• Bark is used in tea to treat colds, fevers, diarrhea, coughs, and scurvy.
• Bark poultice is used for treating bleeding wounds.
• It was used as medicine (to treat muscle spasms and cause sedation as well as being applied to tumors).
• It was used externally to treat herpes, erysipelas (a form of superficial cellulitis), and breast tumors.

Other Facts

• The poisonous nature of the plant varies significantly, with many people believing that the plant is less toxic when grown in cooler climates.
• Bark may also be useful for tanning leather.
• It is a persistent plant that can produce more than 1000 seeds in a season.
• The poisonous juice of this plant was used in ancient Greece as a means of executing criminals and other state prisoners including Socrates.
• This weed hosts many common diseases of alfalfa, celery, and carrot.

Precautions

• Toxins are especially concentrated in the seed.
• The toxins paralyze the respiratory nerves, causing death by suffocation.
• Children have been known to die after using the hollow stems as blowpipes.
• It may cause Paralysis and even Death.
• Consumption of Poison Hemlock can cause respiratory failure in less than 3 hours.
• The plant contains coniine, an extremely toxic substance that can also cause congenital defects.

 

References

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