A worldwide community photographing and learning about wildlife
Project Noah Nature School
Oxpolis filiformis
Also know as Water Hemlock Hemlock was used in ancient Greece as state poison. This poison was administered as a method of capital punishment. The Greek philosopher Socrates drank a cup of some kind of hemlock infusion at his execution in 399 BC. The plant contains cicutoxin, which disrupts the workings of the central nervous system. In humans, cicutoxin rapidly produces symptoms of nausea, emesis and abdominal pain, typically within 60 minutes of ingestion. Poisoning can lead to tremors and seizures. A single bite of the root (which has the highest concentration of cicutoxin) can be sufficient to cause death. In animals the toxic dose and the lethal dose are nearly the same. One gram of water hemlock per kilogram of weight will kill a sheep and 230 grams is sufficient to kill a horse. Due to the rapid onset of symptoms, treatment is usually unsuccessful.
By a pond in the Park.
http://www.eol.org/pages/592310 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cicuta_viro...
Like many species related to hemlock and parsley and the like, flowering is in a large umbrella like cluster. That is not the case here and given the photo, and the wet background, and where the photo was taken coupled with my own experience I am sure you have a Lax Hornpod
Spotted on Aug 31, 2011
Submitted on Sep 1, 2011
