Water hemlock
Water hemlock is also sometimes known as poison hemlock. The Latin name for this plant is Cicuta virosa L.
Water hemlock is a member of the Apiaceae family, which is known as Apiaceae Lindl.
Description of Water hemlock
Water hemlock is a perennial herbaceous plant with a smooth, branched stem. This stem can reach up to one and a half meters in height, often with a violet or purple hue. The rhizome is quite swollen and divided into air chambers by transverse septa. The leaves can be bi- or tripinnate. These leaves have narrowly lanceolate, sharply serrated lobes. The flowers of the water hemlock are quite small and white, then gathered into complex spherical umbels with ten to twenty-five rays. The leaves of this plant can be either lanceolate-linear or simply linear. The fruit of the water hemlock is a rounded diseal, which splits into two small semi-pods when ripe. This plant blooms in summer. Regarding its distribution, this plant is found everywhere.
Water hemlock grows in swamps, damp meadows, and marshy banks of bodies of water in both polar-arctic and steppe zones.
Description of the medicinal properties of water hemlock
The herb of this plant, namely the flowers, leaves, and stems, is widely used for medicinal purposes. It should be noted that all parts of the water hemlock, especially its young shoots and rhizome, are highly toxic. This plant is toxic due to its significant content of a non-nitrogenous substance called cicutotoxin. This substance is found in particularly high quantities in the rhizomes and roots during the spring.
Cicutotoxin is an antispasmodic poison that affects the centers of the medulla oblongata: initially, it stimulates the brain, then depresses it. Among other things, water hemlock also contains alkaloids, essential oil, and polyacetylene compounds. Kaempferol and the flavonoid quercetin have been found in the leaves of water hemlock.
The medicinal properties of this plant have found very wide application in folk medicine. Basically, poisonous vekh is used as an external remedy in the form of infusions and ointments, which are particularly effective for rheumatism, ulcers, chronic dermatitis and inflammation of the sciatic nerve. As for use in homeopathy, this plant has shown its effectiveness in tetanus convulsions, migraines and dizziness, as well as in the treatment of epilepsy.
However, it should be noted that there are also cases of severe and sometimes even fatal poisoning of both people and domestic animals by this plant. Young children are most often susceptible to poisoning. Poisoning will be accompanied by the appearance of quite severe convulsions, as well as dizziness, drowsiness, nausea, and a burning sensation in the intestines. Sometimes tongue paralysis also occurs. The use of emetics, coffee, mustard plasters and tannin is recommended as an antidote to such effects.
Actually, it is precisely for this reason that this plant is very toxic, experts recommend avoiding its use for medicinal purposes, and it is especially dangerous to take drugs based on poisonous plant matter internally.
