194 MEDICINAL AND POISONOUS PLANTS 
water in which the roots have been bruised by trampling. 
The plant should be uprooted and destroyed wherever found. 
Another herb closely similar to the water hemlock and too 
common along waysides is the poison hemlock (Fig. 180). 
This is most probably the plant by which Socrates was poi- 
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Fia. 180, I.—Poison Hemlock (Coniwm maculatum, Parsley Family, Um- 
bellifere). Flowering and fruiting top. (Baillon.)—A biennial about 
1-2 m. tall; stem, smooth, purple-spotted; leaves parsley-like, of 
mouse-like odor when bruised; flowers white; fruit brownish. Native 
home, Eurasia. 
soned at the hands of the Athenians. Recent cases of poison- 
ing have resulted from eating the root by mistake for parsnip, 
the leaves for parsley, and the seeds for anise. Children have 
been poisoned by blowing whistles made from the hollow 
stem. 
