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Deadly☠️ To avoid

☠️ Hemlock water-dropwort

Oenanthe crocata · Apiaceae

🌳 Temperate Europe🫒 Mediterranean🐚 Coastline
🧠 To remember it“Saffron-yellow sap, sweet fingers: death in a bouquet” — never put an aquatic umbellifer root in your mouth.
Hemlock water-dropwort — Oenanthe crocata

🔍 Identify it without mistakes

Considered one of Europe's most toxic plants, it grows with its feet in the water of ditches, slow-moving rivers, and marshes. Its tuberous root, shaped like a cluster of fleshy fingers, has a sweet parsnip taste that has tricked many foragers. The entire plant exudes a characteristic saffron-yellow sap when cut, which gives it its French name.

  1. root formed of several fleshy, spindle-shaped tubers, grouped like a cluster of small carrots
  2. yellowish sap (saffron-colored) oozing when the stem or root is cut
  3. hollow, grooved, branched stem
  4. erect white umbels, deeply divided leaves
Size0.5 to 1.5 m
FloweringJune-September
Habitatditches, slow-moving riverbanks, marshes, coastal wet meadows

⚠️ Not to be confused with

Wild parsnip or wild celery (Pastinaca sativa / Apium graveolens)low for these species

To tell them apart: hemlock water-dropwort's root is a cluster of fleshy tubers with saffron-yellow sap, whereas wild parsnip and wild celery have a single taproot without this colored sap

Lesser water-parsnip (itself toxic) (Berula erecta)also toxic, confusion lacks practical safety relevance

To tell them apart: only reliable botanical expertise can distinguish aquatic umbellifers; in practice, no wild umbellifer root found in wetlands should ever be tasted

Wild carrot (Daucus carota)deadly (oenanthotoxin)

To tell them apart: grows in damp/marshy areas (wild carrot prefers dry meadows), root formed by a cluster of fleshy tubers and not a single taproot, celery/parsley smell rather than carrot smell

Rock samphire (sea fennel) (Crithmum maritimum)deadly for hemlock water-dropwort if confused

To tell them apart: rock samphire grows exclusively on rocks/cliffs sprayed by sea foam, with thick, fleshy leaves smelling strongly aromatic; hemlock water-dropwort grows in damp/marshy areas, has tuberous roots and a different smell — if in doubt, do not consume

☠️ What kills

nomOenanthotoxin and cicutoxin (convulsant polyynes), concentrated mainly in the root
dose letale estimeea few grams of fresh root can be fatal for an adult; historically responsible for deadly livestock poisonings after a single bite (approx, no standardized human dose)
delai15 min to 1 h
symptomesviolent and repeated convulsions, excessive salivation, loss of consciousness, respiratory arrest possible right from the first seizure
antidoteno specific antidote; benzodiazepines in intensive care to control convulsions
morts documenteesyes — several documented deaths in the UK and France, particularly in children who tasted the sweet root and in grazing livestock

First steps : Call emergency services as an absolute emergency at the very first tremors: convulsions can occur within minutes. Do not induce vomiting during a seizure (risk of aspiration). Keep a piece of the root for identification.

Sources (3)

No entry replaces a certain identification in the field, or medical advice. When in doubt: don't eat it. If ingestion is suspected: poison control or 112/911.