''Aethusa cynapium'' (fool's parsley, fool's cicely, or poison parsley) is an annual (rarely biennial)

herb In general use, herbs are a widely distributed and widespread group of plants, excluding vegetables and other plants consumed for macronutrients, with savory or aromatic properties that are used for flavoring and garnishing food, for medicinal ...

in the flowering plant family Apiaceae, native to Europe, western Asia, and northwest Africa. It is the only member of the genus ''Aethusa''. It is related to hemlock and water-dropwort, and like them it is

poison Poison is a chemical substance that has a detrimental effect to life. The term is used in a wide range of scientific fields and industries, where it is often specifically defined. It may also be applied colloquially or figuratively, with a broa ...

ous,Clapham, Tutin, & Warburg: Flora of the British Isles, 2nd edition, page 524 though less so than hemlock. It has been introduced into many other parts of the world and is a common weed in cultivated ground.

Description

It has a

fusiform Fusiform means having a spindle-like shape that is wide in the middle and tapers at both ends. It is similar to the lemon-shape, but often implies a focal broadening of a structure that continues from one or both ends, such as an aneurysm on a b ...

root and a smooth hollow branched stem growing to about high, with much divided (ternately pinnate) smooth

leaves A leaf (plural, : leaves) is any of the principal appendages of a vascular plant plant stem, stem, usually borne laterally aboveground and specialized for photosynthesis. Leaves are collectively called foliage, as in "autumn foliage", wh ...

with an unpleasant smell, and small compound umbels of small irregular white flowers.

Toxicity

Poisoning from fool's parsley results in symptoms of heat in the mouth and throat and a post-mortem examination has shown redness of the lining membrane of the gullet and windpipe and slight congestion of the

duodenum The duodenum is the first section of the small intestine in most higher vertebrates, including mammals, reptiles, and birds. In fish, the divisions of the small intestine are not as clear, and the terms anterior intestine or proximal intestine m ...

and stomach. Some toxins are destroyed by drying, and indeed, hay containing the plant is not poisonous.

References

External links

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Parsley, Fool's
Apioideae Plants described in 1753 Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus {{Apiaceae-stub