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Alexanders or hemlock?

 
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charleigh.blue



Joined: 10 May 2011
Posts: 7

PostPosted: Thu May 12, 11 1:44 pm    Post subject: Alexanders or hemlock? Reply with quote
    

Hi thère! So I/M pretty sure i've found some alexanders but need a little more help? I'm on a phone so can't post a picture but here's a description! Vertically striped stalk that turns pinkish towards the root. The stalk is not hollow. It has small yellow buds with tiny petalesque yellow things blooming from each bud. The top of the root is a pinky purple. The root itself has a dark brown skin with a beige white inside that looks similar to parsnips but smaller. Any help would be grand thanks!

Bernie66



Joined: 14 Jan 2005
Posts: 13967
Location: Eastoft
PostPosted: Thu May 12, 11 1:50 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

https://forum.downsizer.net/about61826.html&highlight=alexanders

Try this quite similar topic

charleigh.blue



Joined: 10 May 2011
Posts: 7

PostPosted: Thu May 12, 11 2:11 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

Thanks! I had a look at it but some of the responses pound a little reliant on the picture, which I can't look at. It smells like peppery celery?

Bernie66



Joined: 14 Jan 2005
Posts: 13967
Location: Eastoft
PostPosted: Thu May 12, 11 2:22 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

charleigh.blue wrote:
Thanks! I had a look at it but some of the responses pound a little reliant on the picture, which I can't look at. It smells like peppery celery?


I'm sorry, I'm not confident enough to advise

bubble



Joined: 13 Apr 2008
Posts: 960

PostPosted: Thu May 12, 11 2:25 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

TO id hemlock from cow parsley, wild chervil ,alexanders and one or two others go out with an expert ,do'nt rely on the web or books !!!!!!!!!

charleigh.blue



Joined: 10 May 2011
Posts: 7

PostPosted: Thu May 12, 11 2:30 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

Know any experts in the mawgan porth area of cornwall by any chance? Ha ha. Would really like to try some things as I live in london so don't get may chances to forage! At least i've got the nettles to rely on!

jamanda
Downsizer Moderator


Joined: 22 Oct 2006
Posts: 35056
Location: Devon
PostPosted: Thu May 12, 11 3:57 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

If you want to call into Torrington in North Devon on your way home I could show you.

You should be able to find wild garlic easily in any woodland atm and it's easy - smells of garlic and has lovely white starry flowers.


hedgehogpie



Joined: 02 May 2006
Posts: 684
Location: Kent
PostPosted: Thu May 12, 11 6:12 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

Best to give it a miss until you're in a position to make a proper visual comparison - anything else is just too risky with potentially fatal consequences - or stop by at Jamanda's & take her up that offer of a free on the spot tutorial.

Bernie66



Joined: 14 Jan 2005
Posts: 13967
Location: Eastoft
PostPosted: Sat Jun 04, 11 8:31 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

https://paulkirtley.co.uk/2011/hemlock-conium-maculatum/

Another fine article from Paul Kirtley's website

frewen



Joined: 08 Sep 2005
Posts: 11405

PostPosted: Sat Jun 04, 11 8:53 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

It's a good article - and I'd still never risk an id ...

For me it comes down to the importance of the Alexander plant over "getting poisioned".

The one never outweighs the other

Bernie66



Joined: 14 Jan 2005
Posts: 13967
Location: Eastoft
PostPosted: Sat Jun 04, 11 8:58 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

once you learn the smell of hemlock its impossible to miss IMO. Until then its a gamble. Supposed to be a pleasant death though, as deaths go.

frewen



Joined: 08 Sep 2005
Posts: 11405

PostPosted: Sat Jun 04, 11 9:15 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

You are right!

I can think of worse ways to go

But - I am not at any point in this conversation suggesting that anyone does unsupervised field research

Bernie66



Joined: 14 Jan 2005
Posts: 13967
Location: Eastoft
PostPosted: Sat Jun 04, 11 9:22 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

Nah, me neither.


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