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Fool's Parsley
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
(unranked):	Angiosperms
(unranked):	Eudicots
(unranked):	Asterids
Order:	Apiales
Family:	Apiaceae
Genus:	Aethusa L.
Species:	A. cynapium
Binomial name
Aethusa cynapium L.

The Fool's Parsley (Aethusa cynapium) or Fool's Cicely or Poison Parsley is an annual (rarely biennial) herb in the plant family Apiaceae, native to Europe, western Asia and northwest Africa. It is the only member of the genus Aethusa.

Growth

Inflorescence of Fool's Parsley.

It has a fusiform root and a smooth hollow branched stem growing to about 80 cm high, with much divided (ternately pinnate) smooth leaves with an unpleasant smell, and small compound umbels of small irregular white flowers. It is related to Hemlock and Water-dropwort, and like them, is poisonous, though less so than Hemlock. Poisoning from Fool's Parsley showed symptoms of heat in the mouth and throat and a post-mortem examination showed redness of the lining membrane of the gullet and windpipe and slight congestion of the duodenum and stomach. Since some toxins are destroyed by drying, hay containing the plant is not poisonous. Symptoms of poisoning are heat in the mouth and throat.

It has been introduced into many other parts of the world and is a common weed in cultivated ground.

External links

• Parsley, Fool's

From Wikispecies

Illustration of Aethusa cynapium from Koehler's Medicinal-Plants 1887

Taxonavigation

Classification System: APG II (down to family level)

Main Page
Cladus: Eukaryota
Regnum: Plantae
Cladus: Angiospermae
Cladus: Eudicots
Cladus: core eudicots
Cladus: Asterids
Cladus: Euasterids II
Ordo: Apiales
Familia: Apiaceae
Genus: Aethusa
Species: Aethusa cynapium

Name

Aethusa cynapium, L.

References

USDA, NRCS. 2006. The PLANTS Database, 6 March 2006 (http://plants.usda.gov). Data compiled from various sources by Mark W. Skinner. National Plant Data Center, Baton Rouge, LA 70874-4490 USA.

Vernacular Name