Sweet Cicely and Cow parsely

[hardr004]

Do they look the same? is so how do you tell them apart? and is cow parsely poisonous?

 

[Geoff Dann]

Cow Parsely is good to eat. It's hemlock you need to watch out for, because that can kill you. Sweet cicely looks like cow parsley but smells different (as does hemlock).

 

[Hoodoo]

The slightest mistake in ID of these types of plants could be serious/fatal. Avoid eating unless you are 200% postiive.

 

[shaggystu]

leave the umbelliferaceae alone unless you really really know what you're doing, the only time i'd ever recommend eating any members of the carrot family is if you've got them from a supermarket or grown them from seed yourself, ie carrots. avoid all the rest like the plague. hemlock water dropwort (to give it it's full name) is so easy to confuse with all sorts of things, for example cow parsley, and it's deadly (i believe it's the most poisonous native plant in the uk, someone will be along in a second to correct me on this though) really really deadly. if you make a mistake with the ID of something like cow parsley and end up eating hemlock water dropwort instead it's pretty unlikely that you'll ever make any mistakes again, at the very least you need to make sure that your life insurance is up to date before you start playing around with this family of plants.

have i over-emphasised this enough yet?

just to be on the safe side leave them alone or you will die!!!!!!!!!!!

having said all this, sweet cicely and rhubarb crumble is lovely

happy foraging

stuart

 

[hardr004]

What are the differences in the smell? and how do you tell them apart if they look the same?

 

[shaggystu]

SWMBLT has just read this thread over my shoulder and reminded me that there's no cure at all for hemlock water dropwort, none, nada, zilch, zip, no known cure, you just die! worth bearing in mind.

i do like carrots though

stuart (on behalf of gemma)

 

[BarryG]

What are the differences in the smell? and how do you tell them apart if they look the same?

There are ways to differentiate between these plants. However, because there are quiet a few species of the Umbelliferae family, they can look very similar, & can often be found growing in close proximity to each other, it is best if you get to know these plants over a long period of time ie, over a few growing seasons. A good field guide and even professional tuition would be my recommendation.

 

[Geoff Dann]

Do they look the same? is so how do you tell them apart? and is cow parsely poisonous?

I said cow parsely is good to eat! That means it is not poisonous. Does hemlock look like cow parsely? Not exactly....do sheep look like goats?

Hemlock has a hollow stem, cow parsley has a u-shaped stem. And they smell different. Older hemlock plants also have purple blotches on the stem. There's other poisonous things that also look like cow parsley, but they probably aren't going to kill you. Hemlock will kill you, so don't eat cow parsley unless you are 100% certain you know how to recognise hemlock.

 

[Geoff Dann]

leave the umbelliferaceae alone unless you really really know what you're doing, the only time i'd ever recommend eating any members of the carrot family is if you've got them from a supermarket or grown them from seed yourself, ie carrots. avoid all the rest like the plague. hemlock water dropwort (to give it it's full name)

Hemlock water dropwort doesn't look like cow parsley. It looks like wild celery. Hemlock looks like cow parsley.