Strange that a family which furnishes the carrot, parsnip,
parsley, fennel, caraway, coriander, and celery to mankind,
should contain many members with deadly properties. Fortunately
the large, coarse WATER HEMLOCK, SPOTTED COWBANE, MUSQUASH ROOT,
or BEAVER-POISON (Cicuta maculata) has been branded as a
murderer. Purple streaks along its erect branching stem
correspond to the marks on Cain's brow. Above swamps and low
ground it towers. Twice or thrice pinnate leaves, the lower ones
long-stalked and often enormous, the leaflets' conspicuous veins
apparently ending in the notches of the coarse, sharp teeth, help
to distinguish it from its innocent relations sometimes
confounded with it. Its several tuberiform fleshy roots contain
an especially deadly poison; nevertheless, some highly
intelligent animals, beavers, rabbits, and the omnivorous small
boy among others have mistaken it for sweet-cicely with fatal
results. Indeed, the potion drunk by Socrates and other
philosophers and criminals at Athens, is thought to have been a
decoction made from the roots of this very hemlock.
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