From the "the more you know" files...

[Mistwalker]

I have been working on my Flora database a lot the last few days. These are flowers of two varieties of the carrot family that commonly grow wild in open areas of the temperate regions of the US. Note the difference in the structure of the flowers. One variety most of us eat a variant of on a regular basis, and you can eat those as many times as you like. If you ever eat any of the other variety, you will only do it once. Because there is no known antidote.

 

[swonut]

I get my food on aisle six and my best hunting is done along the back perimeter walls of most super-markets, but I'm guessing nature is telling me that the ones with all the little barbs by your thumb says that your best bet is to eat the grubs that ate the "carrots" and let them figure it out; but, given the choice, I pick the ones by the blade tip.

BTW, the mini-bushboot is one of Andy's "killer patterns" to keep with the thread's theme.

Oh, and your post needs the "now you know" line so I know which one not to eat. Because all you did for me is tell me to eat dandelions which will only make my mouth taste bitter. (I calc'd it out once and I had to eat 14.7 pounds of dandelions to equal the 1300 calories that I spent bent over picking dandelions for a 1300 calorie day. That my friend caused me immense intestinal distress just thinking about it.) So, I figured it was better to just suck on a rock with a dandelion and imagine it was one of those super-sour candies my kids used to give me thinking that I don't know what it is, but I do. However, I play like I don't and then they laugh and laugh thinking that they got one over on their old man. One day they'll understand when Grandpa gives their kids a bic lighter and tells them it's bottled up fire-flies and its up to them to set the fire-flies free---payback! (Kidding!)

 

[Halfneck]

Which one has the purple blotchy stem?

"Education is the kindling of a flame, not the filling of a vessel." Socrates

 

[Mistwalker]

There is a good bit more to come on this subject later in another place with more photos, but one good hint would be the one I was willing to cut and then hold in my hand to compare to the other is likely the least problematic of the two

Which one has the purple blotchy stem?

"Education is the kindling of a flame, not the filling of a vessel." Socrates

The one in the background that I wasn't holding Those stems just look like something from the world of the dead....

Nice quote. ironically appropriate

 

[Mistwalker]

.....Because all you did for me is tell me to eat dandelions which will only make my mouth taste bitter.....

One of the reasons I have done this article (which is actually a part of a series) is in order to show some of the very distinct differences between these two plants, with the goal being to hopefully dispel some of the common fears and concerns created by people who say they "look too much alike to be able to safely choose between them". There are obviously similarities as they are in the same family of plants This is the exact reason is why I am in the middle of an intense study documenting the characteristics and growth patterns of the very toxic one, which is Poison Hemlock, while I have the opportunity to do so. I already have a very extensive file on the Queen Anne's Lace, the other plant in the foreground of the first photo and the one I am holding, but I am still working on the wild parsnip files. Luckily, in the areas I have explored here in the southeast anyway, the most problematic these plants has also so far been the least common, though it is widespread throughout the US

 

[Halfneck]

Nice quote. ironically appropriate

Twas my intention.

Yea Poison Hemlock is bad stuff. Always kept an eye out for it on Scout trips.

 

[Mistwalker]

Twas my intention.

Yea Poison Hemlock is bad stuff. Always kept an eye out for it on Scout trips.

I was sure it was given the circumstance. Eloquently and poetically pertinent

Yes best to keep the young ones away from it, especially the really young.

While it obviously has similarities to Queen Anne's Lace (wild carrots), which so many compare it to with them both having white blooms, to my mind it is more structurally similar to wild parsnips, even though those have yellow blooms, because once the berries have gone to seed it's harder to tell the difference between the two. Both of those blooms are structured much differently from Queen Anne's Lace, which also looks much different when it has gone to seed as well. The leaf structure of the Queen Anne's Lace and the Hemlock are the main similarity which makes them somewhat difficult to differentiate between when they are both young and very small. And here is where I say if in doubt leave them alone and let them grow a little and the colors of the stems will give the hemlock away pretty soon. The leaves of the Queen Anne's Lace, Parsley and Hemlock are so similar is what usually causes the mistakes. The stems of the more mature Queen Anne's Lace and Hemlock look very different from each other. I was showing a friend the similarities in the leaves of those two yesterday evening. She said to her they are scarily similar, but she could easily see the difference in the stalks and the blooms.