From: David in Ballarat <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > >And then there is one that some take as Queen Anne's lace which is > >really Hemlock, a poisonous plant. Ingestion of even a small > >fragment can be fatal. But that one is native to the US. > > Whilst I have heard of hemlock, I don't know the plant.
I'm pretty sure it's not native to the US. I was taught that it's the plant from which the Greeks brewed hemlock to kill (Socrates? A famous Greek philosopher who was sentenced to death for his heresies, but I'm having a serious senior moment). Anyway, the plant is found in California as a foreign weed. When I took botany, the plant key has a point where you have to decide whether your mystery plant "smells and tastes like celery". Someone in our class sniffed it and didn't detect a celery scent so she touched it to her tongue. It was vile in the extreme, so she immediately spit it out and rinsed her mouth from her canteen. She was lucky--she made it home before collapsing and her mother took her to the hospital. She was hospitalized (paralyzed) for a couple of weeks, and then began the slow recovery. When she returned to class weeks later, she still had tingling in her hands and feet. That was just from touching it to her tongue and promptly rinsing her mouth out! Personally, I think poison hemlock is rather ugly. It has the general flower-shape of the family (carrot, dill, fennel, QAL, etc.) but the flowers and their stem-lets are thick and bloated looking. And the stem of the plant has ugly purple blotches all over it. Makes it quite distinctive, so most of us don't feel the need to key it out. Fortunately for us! Robin P. Los Angeles, California, USA (formerly Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania) [EMAIL PROTECTED] - To unsubscribe send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] containing the line: unsubscribe lace [EMAIL PROTECTED] For help, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
