There are many beautiful herbs blooming this time of year. Honeysuckle, dog roses, black berries, sweet shrub and too many others to name. Queen Anne's lace, one of my personal favorites, is especially pretty right now, but did you know that it has a beautiful and deadly look alike?
I'm not exaggerating. Both plants are in the Apiaceae family, so they have quite the family resemblance to the unaccustomed eye. However, the root of one can kill you within fifteen minutes, while the other is a harmless (and edible!) "wild carrot." Oh, and throw Elder (Sambucus canadensis) into the fray as well. Our fatal beauty can be confused for Elder, also.
So what is this plant, of such beauty and such deadliness? Meet Cicuta maculata, the Spotted Water Hemlock.
Hemlock is a great example of why any responsible forager or herbalist will look at you like you are nuts if you tell us that you like to use your "instincts" and nibble on plants you know nothing about. "Surely, if it is bad for me, my body will tell me so! It will taste bad, or I will simply 'know' not to eat anymore," you so naively defend your position.
No, you won't. And if you insist on doing it anyway, then you deserve the painful, horrible death that awaits you. Here's a no-punches pulled description by the CDC of a case of hemlock poisoning. For the record, most things won't kill you quite as dead quite as quickly as hemlock, but most things won't taste as nice doing it, either.
Because, that's the tricky thing about Hemlock. The smell of the leaves and roots are similar to parsnips, or anise. On the rare occasion that someone survives ingestion, they say that it wasn't bad at all. Livestock eat it without a second thought.
Plants like Hemlock are why we try so hard to explain that 'natural' doesn't necessarily mean safe. They are the reason we always tell people to check three identification guides, and learn from a real live expert. Just in case. . . So please, be safe out there! Use good sense and several field guides, and find an experienced forager to show you the ropes.
Further reading:
Elderberry or Hemlock? A blog post at Eat the Weeds
USDA PLANTS database for Spotted Water Hemlock
USDA PLANTS database for Queen Anne's Lace
