Cicuta virosa

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Cicuta virosa
Cicuta virosa - Köhler–s Medizinal-Pflanzen-038 cropped.jpg
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Plantae
(unranked): Angiosperms
(unranked): Eudicots
(unranked): Asterids
Order: Apiales
Family: Apiaceae
Genus: Cicuta
Species: C. virosa
Binomial name
Cicuta virosa


It grows in wet meadows, along streambanks and other wet and marshy areas.


There has been some dispute whether it was a hemlock of the genus Cicuta or the genus Conium which was used in ancient Greece as state poison. This poison was administered as a method of capital punishment and certainly the Greek philosopher Socrates drank a cup of some kind of hemlock infusion at his execution in 399 BC. Cicuta virosa is however primarily a northern European species, rare or absent from the Mediterranean region, making its use in Greece unlikely. See Poison hemlock for more information.

The typical dose, however, was not always immediately fatal. Sometimes it was necessary to administer a second cup of the poison.

...having drunk all the Hemlock juice, the quantity was found insufficient and the executioner refused to prepare more unless he was paid 12 drachmas.
—from an account[1] of the execution of Phocion

Considering the toxicity of Water Hemlock, this may be a case of misidentification.

In the past, this plant has had a number of colorful names including Beaver-poison, Children's-bane, Snakeweed and Musquash-poison.[2]


Main article: Cicuta toxicity
The fresh subterranean parts of the blooming plant are used in homeopathy as remedy


See also[edit]

External links[edit]


  1. ^ "Ancient Poisons". Retrieved 2013-08-15. 
  2. ^ Britton, N.L., and A. Brown. 1913. An illustrated flora of the Northern United States, Canada from Newfoundland to the parallel of the southern boundary of Virginia, and from the Atlantic Ocean westward to the 102nd meridian. [S.l.]: Scribner.ISBN 0486226433 page 658.