Conium maculatum Hemlock

A biennial, white-flowered umbellifer with hollow, purple-spotted stems. It is a plant of disturbed, often damp habitats such as on waste ground, refuse tips and in rough grassland. Although widespread and locally frequent in much of Britain it is rare and mostly coastal in Scotland and it is absent from much of upland Wales. It is not common in West Glamorgan where all recent records are from Gower. Hemlock contains a toxic piperidine alkaloid called coniine for which there is currently no antidote. Coniine has a number of pharmacological activities but its toxicity mainly results from its effects as a neurotoxin on the central nervous system. It is a powerful muscle relaxant that can cause paralysis of respiratory muscles and muscle breakdown leading to asphyxiation. All parts of the plant, including the seeds, are toxic. It was employed as a means of execution in ancient Greece and there is some evidence  that it was a used to kill the Greek philosopher Socrates who was sentenced to death in 399BC.

Archaeophyte