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Hemlock Water-Dropwort

(Oenanthe crocata)

This species is an umbellifer (a member of the Carrot Family); it is an attractive plant, but a potentially deadly one: "The tubers are sweetish-tasting, but very poisonous, due to a series of polyacetylenes. The active principle is oenanthetoxin, a convulsant poison, which can cause rapid death with few symptoms. Fatal cases of human poisoning have occurred when the leaves were mistaken for those of celery, or the tubers for parsnips" [T.G.Tutin in "Umbellifers of the British Isles", BSBI Handbook No.2, 1980].

This is a plant of ditches, pondsides, and other wet places; it is most common in the south and west of Britain. It is described as a "calcifuge", meaning that it will not normally be found growing on chalky, alkaline soils. This species occurs in abundance here alongside the cycle route; this area, close to the river, provides a suitably damp habitat, and the soil here (and throughout the surrounding region) is generally fairly acidic.

[Note that Hemlock (Conium maculatum) is a different plant from Hemlock Water-Dropwort, although both species are poisonous and are members of the Carrot Family.]

For some other common but very poisonous plants, see NS4984 : Foxglove (Digitalis purpurea) and NS8279 : Monk's-hood (an Aconitum species).