Monday, May 10, 2010

Poison hemlock

This morning there was an interesting article in the Bellingham Herald about poison hemlock. It seems this guy, David Westerlund, went out to his garden and picked what he thought was a carrot. He put it all together with some "cabbage, garlic, ginger, onions, sea salt and whey" to ferment and left it for six days. Then he had it for lunch.

Two hours after he ate it he was in the emergency room, because what he ate was poison hemlock, also known conium maculatum. If you go to Wikipedia (which you know I did), it redirects "poison hemlock" to the page about conium, which is the same hemlock that Socrates was given to kill him. From this Wikipedia link:
Coniine is a neurotoxin, which disrupts the workings of the central nervous system and is toxic to humans and all classes of livestock. Ingestion in any quantity can result in respiratory collapse and death.
Apparently Westerlund felt weird and his eyes stopped tracking properly, he got all shaky and went to the hospital. He will apparently recover with no ill effects. (I suspect he got a thorough stomach pumping.) And another woman in Washington state ate some in a salad and died. Since it grows in the springtime and can travel from nearby places by the seed blowing in the wind, it can show up in gardens.

But you can tell it apart from things that are edible by one very important sign: the stem has purple streaks or splotches on it. From the Herald:
Looking back, Westerlund said he should have realized it wasn't a carrot, even if he didn't know about poison hemlock. A carrot's stem is hairy, but the stem on the plant he pulled up was smooth and had purple splotches. The plant's taproot was white, like a parsnip, Westerlund said. The taproot on a carrot is orange.
Yes, he was very lucky. I thought it might help some others who might see a "volunteer" plant in your garden from making the same mistake. I used to see it growing near creeks in Boulder, and we wouldn't even touch it for fear of getting some of the bad juju on us. Apparently every part of the plant is poisonous. You are supposed to wear gloves when you pull it out, too, just in case. Anybody else ever seen it in the wild?
:-]

19 comments:

  1. We had it growing in the woods on the farm when I was a kid. We knew it was poisonous though, and steered clear of it.

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  2. 'Anybody else ever seen it in the wild?'

    Funnily enough, I saw some just this morning when out for a walk along the River Tweed which forms the border between England and Scotland.

    I don't know what the temperature is like in Washington state at the moment but, if there is any warmth at all, poison hemlock's smell is enough to deter you from going too close.

    It is said that temperature is important for poison hemlock and the stuff I saw this morning is close to the northern limit of its range and, some sources say, is probably not that poisonous. I wouldn't try, though.

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  3. At the wetlands, where I volunteer, they are very vigilant about watching for it.

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  4. It looks so pretty and harmless. Thanks for the heads up on this one. I couldn't imagine eating anything like this.

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  5. Looks absolutely nothing like a carrot! Silly man. Honestly, some people will eat anything...!
    Nice picture of it though.
    Blessings, Star

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  6. This man got lucky. I've never seen one, but thanks for the warning. I never eat anything growing out in the wild or that I didn't plant myself. Just too risky.

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  7. Sounds like he was an idiot to me. I can't imagine plucking wild stuff and stewing it without knowing what it is for sure. It's not worth the risk.
    I am so glad to be back here. I missed you and your posts. Thanks for the comments on my blog too. I really appreciate your kind words.

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  8. Most of us are not savvy enough to know what is poisonous or not, so the best thing is not eat anything wild. Good story, and good advice. Thanks for posting this story.

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  9. How scary
    I have a rather wild border in my back yard.
    The first owners planted lots of crazy stuff....mint
    it drives me crazy because it wants to take over....and the little kids like to pick it and smell it....I guess I better go take a good look to see what all is there.

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  10. Hi DJan, aloha from Hong Kong!!! Re your post today, that is one of the reasons I don't grow veggies in my yard. Two people in Hawaii went into a coma lasting more than a month after eating homegrown lettuce that had slug eggs and/or larvae in the leaves.

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  11. The veins in the leaves end in the notches between the toothed leaves..instead of running to the tip of the tooth..its long taproot looks and smells like a wild carrot.. It is a native plant here in Minnesota..it is all over the place:(

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  12. Fascinating story and tie in with Socrates. After getting severe poison ivy I have much more respect for noxious plants. You learn to read the signs in the bush. Touching is one thing, but also eating?

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  13. I just stocked up on frozen vegtables. So I think I'm safe. The poor guy.

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  14. This is awful. It's a great thing that he got help in time. I don't think I've ever seen any. I guess it's a fortunate thing that I don't eat things that I've pulled out of the ground, considering my lack of knowledge about what's edible and what's fatal!

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  15. I found a huge feathery leaved plant in the backyard a couple weeks ago. The purple spots seemed odd, so I looked it up and found it was poison hemlock. I live in the Northeastern US.

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  16. I haven't noticed any lately but I used to see it all the time when I hiked and backpacked. I have eaten a lot of different plants from the wild but I always double check to make sure the plant is safe. Just going out and picking something and throwing it in a salad is foolish and can be dangerous.

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  17. RAE , Sounds like he was an idiot to me. I can't imagine plucking wild stuff and stewing it without knowing what it is for sure. It's not worth the risk.
    I am so glad to be back here. I missed you and your posts. Thanks for the comments on my blog too. I really appreciate your kind words.
    May 10, 2010 3:10 PM

    In response to you,read properly the guy did not pick random stuff then stew it ,he picked veggies but accidentally picked some hemlock witch is not that hard to do as it's not a common garden plant you expect to have as it's seeds fly in the wind and it spreads randomly even if he did not pick the plant but rather broke the stem or bulb and some inner liquid transferred onto the carrots or anything else he picked boom your sick if not dead once you eat it, so before you decide to share your lacking insight and call someone an idiot publicly try using a little thought first and understand things can happen in more than one way ! (you need more fish and hemp seed hearts....promotes brain nourishment)

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  18. I'm very aware of it here in the NW. It does look like a carrot when it is small! It grows to 5 - 6 feet here with many branches. Blossom looks like queen anne's lace but that is smaller and single stemmed.

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  19. as stated here, hemlock has a very distinct smell, people often confuse it with carrot or queen ann's lace, but, it doesn't have that fennel/carrot like smell at all. Be wary of the smell, hemlock's smell is nothing like any herb we would consume(its not pleasant at all). just be relaxed, its very easy to identify, be logical.

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