Bouquet of Poison
I picked a bouquet of beautiful wildflowers while working on a project for a client this past weekend. I came home and Googled these wildflowers and realized that 90% of what I picked were poisonous to livestock and humans. But only if you ingest them of course. So here we have a ladybug hanging on Poisonous Hemlock. Hemlock was used in ancient Greece to poison condemned prisoners. It is said that Socrates was given this after being condemned to death for impiety.
I still have the bouquet on my porch. Patrick has been real nice to me lately. Probably out of fear that I may boil hemlock in his tea. I would NEVER….or would I? (Que dramatic Law & Order chime and spooky laugh) 🙂
Happy Hump Day folks!
Uprooted Magnolia 
hemlock! that’s some serious stuff! pretty though.
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As the Bard wrote, “What drink’st thou oft, instead of homage sweet, But poisoned flattery? “
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So been there, done that! Glad I know what hemlock looks like now.
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Leah, I don’t have time to do a lot of research at the moment, but I think the photo is of Yarrow, you might check that. I did take the time to look up yarrow in the Weeds of the West book. did not look up poison hemlock, but I think you’ll find it has huge green leaves. I suppose you had larkspur. But at least didn’t have poison ivy, it has really pretty red leaves in the Fall, nice green now, but boy can it cause a rash with an itch!.
Thanks for all the photos, enjoyed from Idaho.
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I agree, it could be yarrow … there are three plants that are very much alike that I find hard to keep the differences straight in my head. There is a lot of hemlock and yarrow growing out there .. main difference I think are the leaves and stem …hemlock has purple spots on its stem. Then there is Queen Anne’s Lace (individual flowers are smaller I believe?)
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uhm i thought poison hemlock was from the tree… now i have to go looking for a flower……
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Lovely photo but yes this is yarrow – Achillea millefolium – which is not poisonous – but does get aphid in large numbers on the stems so that maybe what the ladybird (ladybug) is interested in 🙂
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I believe your flower is yarrow. Hemlock looks more like Queen Anne’s Lace with purple stems when I’ve seen it in North Carolina. It has a more open faced wispy bloom like Queen Anne’s than Yarrow which is thicker and more compact. But could be a geographical difference in the plants too.
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Thank you for all the expert comments everyone! We’ve been spraying larkspur like crazy because that will definitely kill the cows and we’ve been a little panicked about more poison out there trying to hurt our cows. What a relief that this is yarrow. I’ll do more research too. But I may keep this info from Patrick a little longer. It’s kind of fun making him nervous about putting hemlock in his tea! 🙂
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Here’s a good source for trying to figure out wildflowers which can be so confusing – http://www.wildflowers-and-weeds.com/
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[…] real treat to learn about plants that inhabit the Wyoming wild-lands. And yes, I asked her about my Bouquet of Poison and she confirmed, like most of you all, that it is indeed Yarrow. Phew! What a relief. 🙂 Happy […]
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