154 



UMBELLIFER^E. 



Water-hemlock, though an energetic poison, is not used medicinally. 

 It is introduced here merely that it may be distinguished from Conium 

 maculatum, described below, for the two are not infrequently confounded 

 by the superficial observer. 



CONIUM.— Poison Hemlock. 



Conium maculatum Linn e. — Poison Hemlock. 



Description. — Calyx-teeth obsolete. Corolla : petals obcordate, with a 

 short inflexed point, white. Fruit ovate, laterally compressed ; carpels 

 with 5 prominent, wavy ribs, the intervals without oil-tubes ; seed grooved 

 on its face. 



A biennial herb, with a fusiform root, 

 branched, glabrous, often spotted with 



-::-\g 



Stem 2 to 5 feet high, round, 

 purple. Leaves decompound ; 

 ultimate segments ovate or lan- 

 ceolate, deeply cut. Umbels ter- 

 minal, not large for the size of 

 the plant ; involucre and involu- 

 cels 3- to 5-leaved, the latter uni- 

 lateral. The flowers appear in 

 July. 



Habitat.- — Conium is indige- 

 nous to Europe and Asia, but has 

 become naturalized here and is 

 common in waste places in the 

 Northern and Middle States. 



Part Used. — The fruit, gath- 

 ered while yet green — United 

 States Pharmacopoeia. The juice 

 of the fresh plant — Succus conii — 

 was formerly official, but has 

 been dropped because of its un- 

 reliability. The leaves are also 

 efficient, though no longer of- 

 ficial. 



Constituents. — The most im- 

 portant constituent of conium is 

 the alkaloid conia. This is a vo- 

 latile, colorless, inflammable, oily 

 liquid, specific gravity 0.88, having a strong alkaline reaction and a dis- 

 agreeable, tobacco-like odor, resembling that of the fresh plant. The 

 therapeutic virtues of conium reside in conia, its other constituents being 

 unimportant. 



Preparations.— Abstractum conii— -abstract of conium ; extractum conii 



Fig. 131.— Conium maculatum. 



