Hemlock Water Dropwort

Oenanthe crocata

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, Lesser Marshwort, Lesser Water Parsnip, Parsley Water Dropwort, Pignut, Pink Masterwort, Rock Samphire, Sanicle, Sea Holly, Sweet Cicely, Upright Hedge Parsley, Wild Angelica, Wild Carrot, Wild Fennel, Wild Parsnip

Type:

Flower

Life Cycle:

Perennial

Maximum Size:

125 centimetres tall

Habitats:

Ditches, grassland, marshes, meadows, mudflats, ponds, riverbanks, wetland.

Flower:

White, 5 petals

White umbels, usually with lower bracts, up to 4cm wide.

Fruit:

Cylindrical fruits, ridged, 2 styles, up to 6mm across.

Leaves:

The basal leaves are pinnate with 3 to 4 leaflets. They are broadly oval in shape and toothed. The stem leaves have 2 to 3 leaflets and are not as broad as the basal leaflets. The stems themselves are hollow. In my personal opinion, the leaflets look a little similar to parsley.

Aroma:

When mature the smell of these plants are said to resemble that of parsley.

Other Names:

Balder Root, Ban Dock, Beldrum, Bendock, Bilders, Cowbane, Dead Tongue, Deadman's Cress, Dean's Fingers, Deathin, Eltrot, Five-fingered Root, Five-fingered Rot, Hemlock Dropwort, Hemlock Wort, Horsebane, Water Dropwort, Water Hemlock, Water Lovage, Water Sapwort, Wild Rue, Yellow Water Dropwort.

Frequency (UK):

Occasionally seen

Distribution Map

Reproduced by kind permission of the BSBI.

Click to open an Interactive Map