5 ms·
I thought the mention of water hemlock near the end was interesting. Actually, common poison hemlock (which is related) grows all over the U.S. midwest like a w
by ardme 10y ago
I thought the mention of water hemlock near the end was interesting. Actually, common poison hemlock (which is related) grows all over the U.S. midwest like a weed and it is very deadly. You will see it growing in fields and at the side of many highways if you drive through Ohio. It is commonly mistaken for wild carrots (aka queen anne's lace). It famously was used to poison Socrates, and it kills a lot of livestock accidentally in modern times.
https://www.ars.usda.gov/pacific-west-area/logan-ut/poisonous-plant-research/docs/poison-hemlock-conium-maculatum/ https://www.ars.usda.gov/pacific-west-area/logan-ut/poisonou...
- vinhboy 10y agoThis plant is all over California. I am actually surprised I have never heard of any fatalities.
- njharman 10y agoIn my experience, modern Americans rarely go around eating weeds from the wilderness / side of highway. Lack of fatalities is not surprising.
- justinator 10y agojoin us, https://fallingfruit.org/ https://fallingfruit.org/
- nullc 10y agoI recently picked a bunch of wild fennel seeds while out on a hike, then got home and realized that the plant is pretty hard to tell from poison hemlock when dried out, and that perhaps I might have managed to mix in a few hemlock seeds... :-/
- 2muchcoffeeman 10y agoThe article by the radiologist who ate the fruit of the manchineel came up here some weeks ago. Can't believe anyone would consider eating random fruit let alone a radiologist. You must be pretty smart to become a radiologist right?
- cmdrfred 10y agoThe medical profession appears to reward skill in memorization over novel intelligence. The vast majority of doctors will never work with anything that hasn't been done thousands if not millions of times already. Often when they leave their field the dunning kruger effect takes hold and you have stuff like this happening. The uneducated farm boy won't eat the fruit because he doesn't know anything about it, the radiologist does because he thinks he knows.
- yen223 10y ago> Often when they leave their field the dunning kruger effect takes hold and you have stuff like this happening. For an excellent example of this, see ignorant comments about the medical field on Hacker News.
- cmdrfred 10y agoIf only ad hominem's refuted claims. What a tender world that would be.
- koolba 10y agoI know many a toddler that will eat anything and everything that's within reach. Eating grass, weeds, bugs, or even dirt is not out of the question.
- Nomentatus 10y agoScience is increasingly siding with these toddlers (improves biota, reduces asthma); just not re this particular plant, of course.
- Fnoord 10y ago> I am actually surprised I have never heard of any fatalities. There are loads of toxic flowers, plants, and trees. As for your question. I guess because people generally don't live like Into The Wild [1]. [1] http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0758758/ http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0758758/
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- nathanm412 10y agoI didn't realize that was hemlock. We have it growing in our back yard in a bad patch of weeds we need to clear out.
- moultano 10y agoIt looks very similar to lots of other plants, some of which are edible like fennel.
- Declanomous 10y agoI've actually cleared it out before and didn't even realize what it was. I volunteer to clean up invasive species, and we end up pulling a lot out when we clean up buckthorn along with garlic mustard. I probably knew it was hemlock at one point it time, but it didn't really stick.