Fool’s parsley

The common hemlock, Conium maculatum, contain five alkaloids. Power and Tutin found a similar mixture in fool s parsley, and a volatile alkaloid resembling coniine i.s stated to occur in certain aroids. According to Svagr, water hemlock Cicuta virosa) owes its poisonous properties to toxin and not to cicutine, a name sometimes used as a synonym for coniine. The toxic properties of hemlock juice have been known ftom very early times thus it was the chief ingredient in the poison administered to criminals by the Greeks. The leaves and the unripe fruits are the parts used in medicine. The following are the names and formulae of the alkaloids —... 

Fool s parsley Conium maculatum 1 Coniine nicotinelike alkaloid (see p 277)... 

It also occurs in the plant Aethusa cynapium L. (Apiaceae) (Fool s Parsley), Cicuta maculata L. Apiaceae) (water hemlock). 

The loss of active ingredients suited to carrot production means that increasingly machine and hand weeding may be needed to control weeds such as fool s parsley, hemlock and wild carrot, which are difficult to control with herbicides. Volunteer potatoes also pose a problem in carrots. Particular care is needed in managing weeds where crops are grown tmder plastic. 

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