Poison-Hemlock (Conium maculatum L.)

Abstract

The genus Conium is comprised of two or three temperate species of biennial herbs with highly divided leaves and compound umbels of small white flowers. All parts of C. macula tum have long been recognized as being highly poisonous; it was the plant used to kill Socrates in BC 399 (Gledhill 1985; Holm et al. 1997; Hyam and Pankhurst 1995). Conium is a member of the Umbelli ferae or Apiaceae, the carrot family, which accommodates 300 genera and between 2,500 and 3,000 species.