Hemlock

My heart aches, and a drowsy numbness pains
My sense, as though of hemlock I had drunk

Keats: Ode to a nightingale

Another very nasty poisonous plant that looks innocuous and is very common. This is hemlock, conium maculatum, which looks a lot like cow parsley but can grow much taller (up to about 8 feet) and has smooth stems with purple blotches. It is fairly common at this time of year on disturbed ground by roadsides. This patch of hemlock is growing by Junction 25 of the M5; all the white plants in the distance are hemlock too.

According to wikipedia, 6 to eight leaves are enough to prove fatal so there's probably enough hemlock growing in this spot to wipe out the whole of Taunton.

So why would Keats want to dabble with the stuff? Why not just stick to opiates like laudanum? (Also fatal: Rossetti's wife Elizabeth Siddall died of lauadanum poisoning). Wikipedia entry says "Hemlock has been used as a sedative and for its antispasmodic properties. It was also used by Greek and Persian physicians for a variety of problems, such as arthritis. It wasn't always effective, however, as the difference between a therapeutic and a toxic amount is very slight. Overdoses can produce paralysis and loss of speech, followed by depression of the respiratory function, and then death."

Thank goodness for modern medicines.

previous poisonous plant blip: hemlock water dropwort