Annual. — Flowers in July, August, and September. 
Root tapering, branched, whitish. Stem from 1 to 2 feet, or 
more, high, upright, branched, somewhat zigzag, jointed, round, 
smooth, striated, sometimes purplish, but not spotted. Leaves 
twice pinnate (bi-pinnate), smoolh, dark lurid green, segments 
egg-spear-shaped, variously cut, lobed, and more or less decurrent : 
the lower leaves are sometimes thrice pinnate (tri-pinnate) . Umbels 
terminal, on long stalks, spreading, and flattish. Umbcllules 
( partial or secondary Umbels ) small, distant. General Involu- 
crum wanting. Partial lnvolvcrum of 3 long, strap-shaped, uni- 
lateral, drooping leaves, by which it may be readily distinguished 
from all other plants of the same natural order. Flowers white. 
Petals somewhat radiating, inversely heart-shaped, with the sum- 
mits bent in. Anthers purplish. Fruit roundish-egg-shaped, 
striated, pale brown. Whole plant smooth, except the flower- 
stalks, which are angular, and the angles are furnished with a 
minute transparent, papillose membrane. 
Whole plant poisonous, and when eaten said to cause vomiting, 
delirium, numbness of the extremities, and often death. We are 
informed in Mr. Loudon’s Gardeners' Magazine, vol. ii. p. 337, 
that a boy of six years old, who had taken some of the plant for 
parsley, at four o’clock, began immediately to utter cries of anguish, 
complained of cramps in the stomach, assumed a livid hue, and 
died at midnight. Another child, though the contents of his 
stomach were ejected, went out of his senses, but by great care 
ultimately recovered. Two Ladies of Castle Donnington, in Leices- 
tershire, partook of some salad, into which some Fool’s-parsley 
had been put for common parsley ; they suffered a great deal, but 
ultimately recovered. — We cannot, as Dr. Withering observes, 
be too particular in discriminating these deleterious herbs, espe- 
cially as they are frequently found growing intermixed with culinary 
vegetables. This plant has been sometimes mistaken for common 
parsley, but it may be readily distinguished by its leaves, which 
are of a much darker green, more flat, and more finely divided. 
It also wants the peculiar smell of the common parsley. If the 
curled-leaved parsley only was cultivated in gardens, no such mis- 
takes could happen. 
Fool’s-parsley may be distinguished from Hemlock ( Conrum 
maculdtumj, in the stem not being spotted, in its having but little 
smell, and by its more humble growth. Cow r s, horses, sheep, 
goats, and swine, are said to eat it. It is reported to be poisonous 
to geese. 
