Those salads will kill you every time.
Posted on 05/10/2010 4:07:29 PM PDT by djf
BELLINGHAM, Wash. - If the April 1 death of a Tacoma woman was due to hemlock poisoning, it would be the first such fatality in 11 years in the state, the Washington Poison Center said.
Sakha Keo, 55, apparently put hemlock in a salad she ate, thinking it was something else, said Annie Waisanen, a Pierce County medical investigator.
(Excerpt) Read more at king5.com ...
Besides poison hemlock, she adorned her salad with a dressing made from sour vinegar, and sprinkled it with sweet sugar.
To a Northwesterner, “poison Hemlock” is not Hemlock.
I have a 60 foot Hemlock about ten feet from my house.
Even city folk wouldn’t confuse that with a carrot! I hope not, anyway!!!
;-)
I can see her stuttering in front of St Pete: "But, but, but it's organic!!!!"
All of the old poisons were organic.
Yeah...
Poison hemlock is a perennial plant in the parsley family.
(pics of it at the link.)
http://cal.vet.upenn.edu/projects/poison/plants/pppoiso.htm
Description. Poison hemlock is a perennial member of the Umbelliferae (parsley) family. The plants are up to 6 feet tall with smooth, hollow stems covered with purple spots. Leaves are finely divided, resembling those of parsley or carrots. Crushed leaves have a mouse-like odor. The plant is sometimes confused with wild carrot (Daucus carota, Queen Anne’s lace). There is a large white to pale yellow taproot.
Toxic principle. Coniine and related pyridine-type alkaloids are present in the root, young plants and seeds. As plants mature, the foliage loses alkaloid content, but the seeds accumulate the alkaloid. Hay can retain toxicity.
Toxicity. The whole green plant is toxic at dosages of approximately 1% of body weight.
Clinical signs. The clinical course is rapid, and animals may be found dead or die within a few hours. Initial consumption may cause a burning sensation in the mouth, salivation, emesis and diarrhea. Rapidly developing neurologic signs include muscle tremors, muscular weakness, dim vision, convulsions and coma. Death results from respiratory failure. Frequent urination and defecation may also occur.
Treatment. The stomach should be evacuated, and activated charcoal administered. Respiratory support by mechanical ventilation may be lifesaving in small animals.
Those salads will kill you every time.
I thought this was going to be about euthanasia.......and it gets the reward for the dumbest action of the week.
Sorry, I don’t mean to be disrespectful to the person who died.
I can see her stuttering in front of St Pete: “But, but, but it’s organic!!!!””
There is a God- & he does have a sense of humor.
It’s a fooler, it does resemble wild carrot (and for that matter, regular carrots), and there are several other relatives (they look quite similar) which are also poisonous. Poisonous hemlock has been called the most poisonous wild plant in North America. It isn’t the same kind of plant (not even the same genus) that killed Socrates, AFAIK. What kind of symptoms did she exhibit? There are other deadly but good-looking plants. :’)
What do people out there do?
Just go out in the woods and pull stuff out of the ground and eat it?
“My, but that looks pretty, I think I’ll take it home and put it on a salad.”
Euell Gibbons would.
It didn’t do anything good for Socrates either...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Socrates
Toxic at 1% of body weight! Wow, that’s a good size salad.
I guess a Caesar’s salad wasn’t good enough for her. She just had to have the Socrates salad.
Groan...
From a medical source:
poison hemlock Conium maculatum, a large herb that contains the poisonous alkaloid coniine; in both humans and other animals it causes nausea and vomiting, followed by potentially fatal muscle paralysis and respiratory failure. The dried fully grown but unripe fruit has sedative, anodyne, and antispasmodic properties.
It’s the curse of Ewell Gibbons.
Euell Gibbons obviously knew what he was eating. Me- sometimes yes and someimes no. Solution- I eat what I plant.
Probably 80% of wild plants are edible. Might not taste very good.
Another 17% or so will make you sicker than a dog.
Then, there’s the three percent that will be your last meal. And from some of the stories I’ve heard about people eating mushrooms and other really nasty stuff, dying from plant poisoning is not way up there on the “Ways I’d like to go!” list.
Some, truly agonizing.
My problem is things I learned are safe as a kid- example Shepherds Purse yes I am okay with them. But beyond that I am pretty much sunk.
However I do know how to, and, why to use beet greens and radish tops and I do know to dice up the core of a cabbage and put it in the soup kettle. And that dried carrot tops make a passable substitute for dried parsley. And broccoli stems are very tender and very good if peeled. So I am not a total loss.
Digitalis - Foxglove. I grow those in my flower garden. I just make sure that the kids and animals stay away from it. I’ve had no trouble handling the plant or the seeds. Just keep them far away from the mouth. ;)
Exactly-Whatever happened to the supermarket?
I was under the impression that Foxglove could get you stoned. Why am I growing it if it’s just gonna kill my cat?
Did she pluck it from the side of the road, think freebie vegetable? Or did somebody slip it to her?
Hehe...It might get you a headstone, but you will not get stoned from this plant. It is digitalis....a component in heart medication.
Same as others, I guess. Thought it was a wild carrot.
Local news showed them trying to interview one of her neighbors, an Asian gal who could barely speak any English, pointing at the plants growing in the alley near where she lived.
Stir fry??
Bye Bye!!!
Thanks Pharmboy!
It’s the source of digitalis, and like medicinal weeds everywhere, was grown for its specific properties long before it was scientifically studied. :’)
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