Ivy and Umbellifers 185Coleman, which is, however, very rare in the county in question, where O. fis-
tulosa on the other hand is locally common.
Oenanthe crocata Linnaeus
hemlock water-dropwort
south-western Europe, Morocco
There are numerous reports scattered throughout the medico-botanical liter-
ature of people mistaking the extremely poisonous Oenanthe crocata for wild
celery or parsnips and dying within just an hour or two. In the west of the
British Isles, where it is common, the local country people would normally
have learned from childhood to leave it strictly alone; the fatalities have typi-
cally been of incomers unaware of the
plant’s identity and danger—for ex-
ample, a group of French prisoners of
war on parole in Pembrokeshire.^73 The
poison resides in the dark, viscous resin
and may act on the heart and nervous
system simultaneously.
Unexpectedly, despite the seemingly
total avoidance of deadly night-
shade (Atropa belladonna), both
Oenanthe crocata and the true
hemlock (Conium maculatum)
have been utilised in folk medi-
cine, though presumably always
with great caution and for ex-
ternal application only. Of the
sole two records traced of the
use ofO.crocata outside Ireland, however,
one dates from as far back as the early
eighteenth century, when under
the name ‘five-fingered root’ the
plant is said to have been exten-
sively employed for poulticing
the severer kinds of ‘felons’.^74
The other is from the Isle of
Man, where it has been prized,
apparently down to a more recent
period, as a treatment for skin cancers.^75
Oenanthe crocata, hemlock water-
dropwort (Green 1902, fig. 266)