Food for free - error ?

[falling rain]

I was looking through my copy of food for free today this edition http://www.amazon.co.uk/Food-Free-R...7396606?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1183754256&sr=1-3 not the pocket gem version. On page 35 there is a picture of a plant that looks to me like hogweed (not giant hogweed) going by the leaves anyway and the umbels look very much like hogweed but as it's a small picture it's hard to tell by the heads. Anyway the caption underneath says it's Hemlock Conium maculatum so I think there's been an error. What do others think. Going by how lethal hemlock is that's a pretty big mistake

 

[Solitude]

I was looking through my copy of food for free today this edition http://www.amazon.co.uk/Food-Free-R...7396606?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1183754256&sr=1-3 not the pocket gem version. On page 35 there is a picture of a plant that looks to me like hogweed (not giant hogweed) going by the leaves anyway and the umbels look very much like hogweed but as it's a small picture it's hard to tell by the heads. Anyway the caption underneath says it's Hemlock Conium maculatum so I think there's been an error. What do others think. Going by how lethal hemlock is that's a pretty big mistake

Hi Mate,

Personally i wouldnt have a clue and have put my faith in that book a few times and now im a bit worried.

If i was you i would contact the publisher with your concerns.

 

[xylaria]

Sound like they have put the wrong picture to the caption. My copy went for a walk years ago so can't check.

To be truthful I think most books will have some errors in them. Either typos or misinformation by the author. When I want to ID something I put the latin name into google images to double check, that way you get to see a lot of different pictures of the same plant. I find that really helps.

The worst book i have every seen for errors the collins nature guide for mushrooms and toadstools. The book is worse than useless, it is downright dangerous. It labels perfectly edible mushrooms as poisonous and doesn't label destroying angel as anything. I went through my sister copy with tippex, and wrote better information in it.

 

[Jodie]

All those plants look very similar to me so I'm probably not much help but I did find some
of those lovely watercolours of plants and photos on Wikimedia so these might offer a few
pointers.

Cow parsley Anthriscus sylvestris
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Koeh-162.jpg

Hogweed Heracleum - this one is Cow parsnip Heracleum lanatum
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:CowParsnip.jpg
more at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cow_Parsnip

Common hogweed Heracleum sphondylium
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Illustration_Heracleum_sphondylium0.jpg
more at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hogweed

Giant hogweed / Giant cow parsley Heracleum mantegazzianum
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giant_Hogweed
http://y2u.co.uk/&002_Images/Hogweed%2001.htm - linked from the above page

Hemlock disambiguation (all the variants of meaning)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hemlock

Hemlock / Poison hemlock Conium maculatum
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Koeh-191.jpg
(you're right, it does look different from the picture given on p35)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Conium.jpg

Fool's parsley / Fool's cicely Aethusa cynapium
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Illustration_Aethusa_cynapium0.jpg
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fool's_parsley

 

[Nagual]

These are two sites showing hogweed
http://www.the-tree.org.uk/EnchantedForest/WoodlandFlowers/hogweed.htm
http://www.plant-identification.co.uk/skye/umbelliferae/heracleum-sphondylium.htm

This shows Hemlock.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poison_hemlock


There are so many plants that have an umbellifer, and look like each other. The trick is not looking for what that all have but looking for what is unique. If in doubt don't touch, but you knew that already.

What did the article say about hemlock? Did they say it was safe to eat or were they perhaps showing what it looks like so you knew to avoid it?

edit: by the time this actually posted, there was a load of better replies.. ah just as well I'm getting rid of this new fangled technology and going back to drums

 

[Toadflax]

Can't find this problem in my 1975 edition, but just offer the following quote from the book when referencing cow parsley and hemlock: "But I must stress that these few pointers are in no way a substitute for a well-illustrated field guide".

Food for Free is IMHO a book about uses of plants for food, not a book for identifying plants. For that, as Richard Mabey points out, you need a good field guide or, better still, a nature walk with an expert.


Geoff