The Herbarium
Part XII · Lookalikes
Field pair
Hemlock for wild carrot
Poison hemlock and Carrot — take this sheet to the bed, not a guess to the kettle.
Deadly mix-upForage
Hemlock for wild carrot
Queen Anne’s lace and poison hemlock share a white umbrella. One is a taproot. The other shuts the nerves down.
Wild carrot has a hairy stem, a three-forked bract under the umbel, and often a dark floret in the center. Hemlock is hairless, purple-spotted, and the bracts are short and even. Do not forage a white umbel from a ditch.
The Herbarium — a teaching catalog, not a clinic. Traditional use is history, not a prescription. USDA 6b dates are a week either way, not a promise. Do not eat, drink, or harvest a plant you cannot name.