Hemlock

Conium maculatum

Please keep in mind that it is illegal to uproot a plant without the landowner's consent and care should be taken at all times not to damage wild plants. Wild plants should never be picked for pleasure and some plants are protected by law.
For more information please download the BSBI Code of Conduct PDF document.

Plant Data

Flowering Months:

JAN FEB MAR APR MAY JUN JUL AUG SEP OCT NOV DEC

Order:

Apiales

Family:

Apiaceae (Carrot)

Also in this family:

Alexanders, Burnet-saxifrage, Common Hogweed, Cow Parsley, Edible Carrot, Fool's Watercress, Garden Parsley, Giant Hogweed, Greater Burnet-saxifrage, Ground Elder, Hemlock Water Dropwort, Lesser Marshwort, Pignut, Pink Masterwort, Rock Samphire, Sanicle, Sea Holly, Sweet Cicely, Upright Hedge Parsley, Wild Angelica, Wild Carrot, Wild Fennel, Wild Parsnip

Type:

Flower

Maximum Size:

2 metres tall

Habitats:

Ditches, farmland, meadows, riverbanks, roadsides, wasteland, waterside, wetland.

Flower:

White, 5 petals

White umbels to 6cm wide with small bracts underneath.

Fruit:

Dark browns small, smooth, ridged and flattened capsule. Each fruit contains two seeds. Up to 3mm in length.

Leaves:

Bipinnate, hairy, fern-like leaves. Triangular, up to 20 inches (50cm) long.

Aroma:

The whole plant smells foetid.

Other Names:

Beaver Poison, Beaver Poisoner, Break-your-mother's-heart, Bunk, Caise, California Fern, Carrot Fern, Common Hemlock, Conium, Deadly Hemlock, Deadly Hemlock, Devil's Bread, Devil's Flower, Devil's Porridge, Gypsy Flower, Herb Bennet, Hever, Kecksies, Kex, Lady's Lace, Musquash Root, Nebraska Fern, Poison Hemlock, Poison Parsley, Poison Stinkweed, Scabby Hands, Snake-weed, Spotted Corobane, Spotted Cowbane, Spotted Hemlock, Spotted Parsley, Winter Fern, Wode Whistle, Woomlick.

Frequency (UK):

Common

Distribution Map

Reproduced by kind permission of the BSBI.

Click to open an Interactive Map