
Spotted water hemlock is the most toxic plant in North America - ianmobbs
https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/spotted-water-hemlock-toxic-plant
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jcims
I was out walking with my wife and kids and saw what i thought was queen
anne's lace sprouting out of the ditch. When we were kids we would yank them
out to smell the root to see if it smelled like carrots (hey, there was no
internet). So I rip it out of the ground and tell my kids to smell it, i smell
it, didn't really smell like carrots. So then i do the next logical thing and
start chasing my kids around with the plant and (lightly!) whack them with the
flowers.

Anyway we're having a good old time and this guy i know that's the ditch
supervisor for the county comes down the road and slows to a stop. I'm like
'hey man what's up?' and he said 'uh..not much. you realize that's hemlock
don't you?' 'Hmmm?' 'Yeah that's poisonous plant, it's a neurotoxin, better go
home and wash off. If anybody starts feeling funny call 911.'.

And that's how i learned what hemlock looks like!

~~~
executesorder66
Is "ditch supervisor" a real job?

~~~
thatguy0900
[http://www.huronswcd.com/ditch-
maintenance.html](http://www.huronswcd.com/ditch-maintenance.html) apparently.
Looks like some places have to make sure theyre draining correctly

~~~
executesorder66
Interesting. Thanks for the link.

~~~
jcims
It’s part of the county office of engineering and he’s responsible for
overseeing all ditch maintenance of course but has to do some light civil
engineering work with all new construction and drainage projects that impact
the outflow of water off of a property. Just checked and the county is 437
square miles so he keeps busy.

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Mister_X
Oh yeah, toxic as can be. About 25 years ago I was on a local plant
identification hike along the Mendocino coast of California, the leader
pointed at some and asked if anyone knew what it was. It looked like Dill to
me, not knowing about water hemlock, so I quickly snapped a small stem and
took a whiff expecting to smell Dill. When I awoke a couple of minutes later,
the whole group was looking down on me with concern. I was told that I sniffed
it, and said "That's not good" and fell to the ground, I don't remember saying
anything, but do recall seeing "stars". It was half an hour before I could
walk again, and a couple of hours before I felt anywhere close to normal.
Please don't be an ignorant fool like I was and sniff plants you don't know
about.

~~~
supernova87a
Well, I mean who could blame you for what normally would be a harmless action?
How many plants you ever encounter, especially in North America, are this
toxic?

~~~
SAI_Peregrinus
Strictly speaking, since this is the most toxic plant in NA, none.

But poison hemlock is all over the place, and while less toxic it's still
quite deadly.

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pvaldes
There is some competition for the first place and each poison is unique in its
own ways.

The real problem with hemlock is Angelica. I had eaten wild Angelica and I'm
not tempted to repeat the experience unless absolutely necessary. Oenanthe is
a pretty evil masterpiece also (but a very satisfactory garden plant). The
three can grow interwined in the same area and are roughly similar.

And the other problem with hemlock is lawnmowing fever. You can find yourself
in a lot of trouble if you start casually shredding plants in a riverbank.

Talking in aesthetic terms, Hemlock is a very delicate and nice plant showing
a beautiful hue of pink in fall color.

In any case, pound by pound, the worst villain in terms of number of
casualties is Nicotiana. No doubt about it.

~~~
pvaldes
And some nightmare fuel for the fans of Batman here. Yup, evilish to the root.

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Risus_sardonicus](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Risus_sardonicus)

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gambiting
>>Roast some carrots with cumin and coriander and top it with chopped
cilantro!

Wait, coriander and cilantro are just names for the same plant. It's like
saying roast them with parsley and top it with some chopped parsley.

~~~
DoofusOfDeath
In the U.S., it's common for "coriander" to refer to the seeds, and "cilantro"
to refer to the stems and leaves.

Not trying to justify that practice, just explaining.

~~~
nhebb
Not only that, but I find the taste different. I'm one of those people who
thinks cilantro tastes like soap. For me, it overpowers all other flavors in a
dish, but I find coriander seeds to be mild and pleasant tasting.

~~~
DoofusOfDeath
I was the same, but I found that repeated exposure to cilantro leaves in my
food eventually gave me a taste for it _in certain dishes_.

~~~
technothrasher
I've always tasted the soapiness, but never minded it. As you say, it tastes
right in certain dishes. I've always wondered if I'm just not getting as
strong a soap flavor as others.

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klyrs
I used to see these growing everywhere in the Seattle area, but on recent
visits, it seems that they're less prevalent. I wonder if the city has been
clearing them away.

> It’s the deadliest plant in North America, deadlier ounce by ounce than any
> mushroom

Mushrooming is a curious hobby. Common advice is "it's okay to bite/taste any
mushroom"... but you're never to swallow until you've got a positive
identification, and never ever while you're out in the field even if you think
you're sure.

But plants are _wicked dangerous_ by comparison, which really bucks common
perceptions about plant/mushroom foraging. For example, simply touching
wolfsbane can kill!

[https://monicawilde.com/monkshood-wolfsbane-
poisoning/](https://monicawilde.com/monkshood-wolfsbane-poisoning/)

~~~
vesinisa
> Common advice is "it's okay to bite/taste any mushroom"

That is _very_ bad advice if you ever come to Europe:
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amanita_virosa](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amanita_virosa)

Even one of this mushroom will basically put your liver into necrosis and
slowly kill you. There is no effective remedy in modern medicine apart from
emergency liver transplant.

It also looks much like the common and delicious champignon.

~~~
klyrs
FWIW, I've never been so courageous as to try this (even when I _know_ it's a
chanterelle, I can wait 'til I get home) -- but north america has it's fair
share of both destroying angels (a. virosa) and death caps (a. phalloides) and
I've gotten that advice from local experts. OTOH folks who know what they're
doing still make fatal or near-fatal mistakes... I'm not nearly enough of an
expert to trust the seemingly-cavalier expert advice ;)

~~~
vesinisa
Where I live the common advice is to ever forage for non-white edible
mushrooms only. And of course still always do a positive identification with
the help of a modern illustrated edible mushroom picking guidebook. In
addition to identification instructions for good mushrooms, they include
references and pictures of every known similar-looking non-edible mushroom, so
you can do the positive identification.

But even with pictures, good guidebook and caution, experts still advice
against picking white edible mushrooms _at all_. The risk of accidentally
picking a destroying angel is not worth it, as any forest that has e.g.
champignons ( _Agaricus_ ) is going to have other good, non-white mushrooms as
well.

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wessorh
I farm in the SF bay area and the reason we never grow or server white carrots
is that we have lots of water hemlock on the farm. I like to teach visitors
that not everything on the farm is edible because Berkeley.

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goda90
This is why you always need positive identification of a plant when foraging.
Match all the details and know the look alikes. Compare a list of edible
berries to poisonous ones and you'll see lots of overlapping features.

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philiplu
Interesting. I didn’t realize there was a related plant worse than Conium
Maculatum, poison hemlock. Which I am way too familiar with - they’re common
here in the Seattle area. My neighbor owns a restaurant that specializes in
using lots of different herbs, and a few years ago we were in my backyard when
she pointed out these tall plants with purple-spotted hollow stems, looking
kind of like Queen Anne’s Lace. She told me what they were, and that I really
needed to get rid of them. Been trying for years to do so. Damn things are
really persistent, with long deep roots. Plus, when I weed them out (with
gloves on, always), you can’t dump them in yard waste or compost. They’ve got
to go in the trash. Fortunately, my kids are now old enough to know to leave
them be, and warn me when they see them.

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deerIRL
We have this growing wild everywhere in Northern Saskatchewan. I always was
terrified I would accidentally touch it and die as a kid up at our cabin.

Thankfully, once you know what to look for, it sticks out like a sore thumb.

~~~
Alex3917
> Thankfully, once you know what to look for, it sticks out like a sore thumb.

Hopefully. There's been a big uptick in interest in elderberry due to
coronavirus, so we'll see how good people are at telling the difference in a
few months.

~~~
pvaldes
Totally different plants. One is a woody plant with nicely lemony fragrant
flowers and poisonous leaves and stems, the other a weed that smells bad (and
has poisonous leaves and stems).

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giarc
Ok it's obvious I can't eat this... but what happens if I touch it?

~~~
pvaldes
Nothing serious unless you have an open cut and crush the plant or break the
leaves. As long as you respect its integrity you could "pet it" gently
perfectly.

Just watch for not shallowing accidentally any part of the plant, and wash
your hands later from removing pollen traces

This is part of the problem with the plant. Zero warnings in a beautiful
delicate wild flower. Wolfsbane is worse in that sense.

~~~
elhudy
What about honey made by bees who collected the hemlock flower pollen? There's
some inception.

~~~
pvaldes
Will not happen probably. I doubt that bees would be interested at all.

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ncmncm
Most recent published examples of contact have not ended in death. If you get
emergency care, you will probably survive.

"Probably" should not inspire you to try it, but should encourage you to get
help as quickly as possible, and not just assume it would be futile.

The interesting difference of this plant, vs many other toxics, is that it
doesn't taste or smell bad.

~~~
Igelau
But how's the quality of life after? On a scale of "full recovery" to "my only
break from a life of crippling agony is when my internal injuries cause me to
black out"?

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gigatexal
The description of death that comes from consuming this stuff is nightmare
material.

~~~
ignoramous
To anyone wondering, this is from the article:

> _Every single muscle starts firing and contracting, so you have convulsions,
> you chew your tongue into ribbons, you vomit but then you can’t open your
> mouth because the jaw muscles are contracting 10 or 20 times as hard as they
> normally do, and you die a horrible death._

> _Those who eat it will die in two hours. It must be a painful death. It
> twists the arms and ankles and turns the head back. Finally they die in a
> last wretching convulsion. They say it turns the eyes back._

> _Cicutoxin is a GABA antagonist; it turns off the brakes. Without that...
> the brain goes nuts: Everything starts firing. Anyone unfortunate enough to
> ingest cicutoxin starts sweating, vomiting, and salivating violently. Kidney
> failure is common, as is an irregular heartbeat and difficulty breathing.
> Muscles start contracting so hard they can dislocate bones._

To make the matters worse, anti-toxins may or may not work.

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bonzini
Worse than the manchineel?

~~~
lisper
Manchineel is more toxic but it only grows in the tropics.

~~~
bonzini
Florida is still North America isn't it?

~~~
lisper
Yes, but...

"Spotted water hemlock grows in freshwater marshy or swampy areas throughout
the entire continent of North America, save the island of Newfoundland. It can
be found in Alaska and Florida, in the vast unpopulated stretches of the
American west and in the parks of New York City. It is not especially common,
but its range is massive."

And before you respond, refer to:
[https://www.xkcd.com/386/](https://www.xkcd.com/386/)

