Post by rowanberry on Apr 20, 2019 13:52:10 GMT
I've had a hemlock plant come up in my comfrey patch, and I thought this was a good opportunity to make a note of the differences between it and cow parsley- the two are very similar. If fact, when I did a herbalism class some years ago, the instructor kept a leaf of both stuck to the front of her notebook so she could always refer to it if needs be- and she was a professional herbalist.
A mistake in the case of this one has caused deaths in the past. 
Here are photos of the stems... mature hemlock displays purplish markings on the stem, but only when older... notice that the younger stem over to the right is still green without spots. Also, it is smooth, whereas the cow parsley has ridges- kind of like celery; a cross-section of the stem would show it to be a triangular shape... hemlock's stem is round and hollow.
The leaves of hemlock are more 'feathery', while the cow parsley leaves look more like actual broad-leafed parsley.
I've read that when I dig out the hemlock I shouldn't put it out with garden rubbish to be composted... it needs to be put into a plastic bag and disposed of with household rubbish.
, and I think our foxes have enough sense not to go chewing on it. The bees might like the flowers, and they need all the help they can get.