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Encyclopedia Britannica - Main :: HEG-HIG |
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HEMLOCK (in O. Eng. hemlic or hymlice; no cognate is found in any other language, and the origin is unknown) , the Conium maculatum of botanists, a biennial umbelliferous plant, found wild in many parts of Great
Asia
South
glaucous green, spotted with dull dark purple, as alluded to in the specific name, maculatum. The root-leaves have long furrowed footstalks, sheathing the stem
stem
produced on the stem became gradually smaller upwards. The branches are all terminated by compound many-rayed umbels of small white flowers
flowers
caustic
Hemlock is a virulent poison, but it varies much in potency according to the conditions under which it has grown, and the season or stage of growth at which it is gathered. In the first year the leaves have little power, nor in the second are their properties developed until the flowering period, at which time, or later on when the fruits are fully grown, the plant should be gathered. The wild plant growing in exposed situations is to be preferred to garden-grown samples, and is more potent in dry warm summers than in those which are dull and moist. The poisonous property of hemlock resides- chiefly in the alkaloid canine or conid which is found in both the fruits and the leaves, though in exceedingly small proportions in the latter. Conine resembles nicotine in its deleterious action, but is much less powerful. No chemical antidote for it is known. The plant also yields a second less poisonous crystallizable base called conhydrine, which may be converted into conine by the abstraction of the elements of water. When collected for medicinal purposes, for which both leaves and fruits are used, the former should be gathered at the time the plant is in full blossom, while the latter are said to possess the greatest degree of energy just before they ripen. The fruits are the chief
The acrid narcotic properties of the plant render it of some importance that one should be able to identify it, the more so as some of the compound-leaved umbellifers, which have a general similarity of appearance to it, form wholesome food for man and animals. Not only is this knowledge desirable to prevent the poisonous plant being detrimentally used in place of the wholesome one; it is equally important in the opposite case, namely, to prevent the. inert being substituted for the remedial agent. The plant with which hemlock is most likely to be confounded is Anthriscus sylvestris, or cow-parsley, the leaves of which are freely eaten by cattle and rabbits; this plant, like the hemlock, has spotted stems but they are hairy, not hairless; it has much-divided leaves of the same general form, but they are downy and aromatic, not smooth and nauseous when bruised; and the fruit of Anthriscus is linear-oblong and not ovate.End of Article: HEMLOCK (in O. Eng. hemlic or hymlice; no cognate is found in any other language, and the origin is unknown) If you wish, you can link directly to this article.
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