Musings about hemlock water dropwort..

[JonnyP]

Have noticed that hemlock water dropwort is having a very good year...
For those that don't know about it, it is one of, if not 'the' most poisonous plant we have growing in the UK, proberbly Europe too. It is deadly if you ingest any of the plant.
It grows around water sources and many river banks are covered by it at the mo. Here is a field full of the stuff that I saw this weekend..

Here is a close up of the leaves..

And the stem..

And the flower..

I have been told that you should not even drink from the water that has hemlock water dropwort growing out of it, it is that poisonous, or even eat edible plants that are growing near it.
I noticed many insects on the flowers, including the honey bee in the photo, which leads me to a question... Would the honey be ok, if the bees are gathering the pollen from the plant...?
Please be careful on or near water at the mo.That includes your dogs too...

 

[chickenofthewoods]

Good post! Those shots show how easy it would be to mistake the stuff for a wild flat leaved parsley - a mistake you wouldn't get the opportunity to repeat twice if you did.

I have no idea about any posible taint from the pollen but I do know that for choice I wouldn't want my bees (if I had any) to be gathering from it.

So pretty and so deadly....

 

[Wayland]

If I recall that was what Socrates did away with himself with......

 

[scanker]

Good post and thanks for the very informative pics. I remember the episode of a Cook on the Wild Side, when HFW nearly picked some of the "plant that looks a lot like parsley" and the old fella gave him a right telling off.

 

[gregorach]

If I recall that was what Socrates did away with himself with......

I'm pretty sure that was hemlock proper (Conium maculatum) - the one with the red / purple blotches on the stem.

 

[JonnyP]

Good post! Those shots show how easy it would be to mistake the stuff for a wild flat leaved parsley - a mistake you wouldn't get the opportunity to repeat twice if you did.

I have no idea about any posible taint from the pollen but I do know that for choice I wouldn't want my bees (if I had any) to be gathering from it.

So pretty and so deadly....

We are probably getting some bees, (we have some hives here) and there is HWD growing around here...
It should be ok..You don't here of people dying of honey poisoning do you..

I think Socrates ingested hemlock as Gregorach says. Infact Gary, that what you say, just goes to show that there is a lot of confusion about the umbellifer family. Some have similar names as well as many of them look alike...

I would of liked to have seen Hugh FW on that programme Neil. I must of missed that one...Glad the old boy told him off...

 

[chickenofthewoods]

It should be ok..You don't here of people dying of honey poisoning do you..

Errrmmmmm... http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/3760356.stm

 

[JonnyP]

Errrmmmmm... http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/3760356.stm

I stand corrected...

It does say this in that report though..
"A spokeswoman said: "There have been no reported cases of natural honey poisoning in the UK. "

With the amount of hemlock wd around this year, I wonder if some people will get some sort of poisoning from unprocessed honey..??
Interesting, thanks for the report Mrs Chicken..

 

[chickenofthewoods]

Probably a bad example but to illustrate that it's possible & if the right factors all lined up in an area where there's a very high concentration of toxic plants available to foraging bees at the right time of year, it has the potential to become an issue.

People assume that honey is natural and safe, and it has a high reputation in connection with a number of remedies but as another example botulism endospores naturally present in the substance make it unsuitable for infants below the age of one as their undeveloped digestive systems cannot destroy it, resulting in poisoning - something that not everyone's aware of. Propolis, a wonder drug for many, can cause contact dermatitis in some people so words like safe and natural can be unintentionally misleading.

I'm not sure I'd be too comforted by references to 'wild' or unprocessed honey as being the reason for the problem either - heat processing is usually intended to destroy yeast spores as part of a preservation process & blending of strains in commercial product has the effect of diluting any toxins present as a by product (but is not the direct intention for doing it) but that's not to say that heat reatment would necessarily be effective at destroying all forms of toxin that might be present. Small local producers may tend to sell their honey unprocessed too, as it is more highly sought after for its perceived health benefits.

In NZ beekeepers are issued with information regarding the control of contaminating Tutu bushes (Coriaria arborea) and the vine hopper insect (Scolypopa australis) that might be present within 3km of their hive's foraging range.

After all that waffle what I suppose what I'm getting at is it could be worth having a word with your local beekeeping society to see if they have any toxic plants listed that it would be worth your knowing about.

 

[gregorach]

I can't find a good value for humans, but one gram per kg of bodyweight will kill cattle and horses. However, it's at least as poisonous as water dropwort (if not more so), of which this article in the Western Journal of Medicine says "as little as one mouthful can kill an adult." There is no known antidote - the only available treatment is to induce vomiting and try and keep the victim alive.

Be very, very careful with umbelifers, especially near water.

 

[bert333]

Thanks Dunc
Think I'll give this one a miss- too easy to mistake-

 

[headrox_inc]

Very nice picutes there, I need to get myself a new camera, what are you using for those shots?

 

[JonnyP]

Very nice picutes there, I need to get myself a new camera, what are you using for those shots?

Thank you...I am using a Sony H1...Bit old now, but I like it..