Cigue tachetee (Conium maculatum)

Common name(s):

Chinese: Du shen.

English: carrot-fern, cigue maculee, cigue tachetee, deadly hemlock, fool’s parsley, hemlock, poison hemlock, poison parsley, spotted hemlock, spotted parsley.

French: grande ciguë

Habit:

Herb.

Description:

Erect annual or biennial, with foetid odour when crushed. Stems hollow, striate, up to 2-(3) m high, usually light green and purple spotted or blotched, sometimes tinged purplish or pink, particularly toward base. Leaves 2-4-pinnate; ultimate segments narrowly or broadly ovate to deltoid, pinnatisect or serrate, 5-40 mm long; petioles light green and purple blotched when mature; stem leaves similar to basal, but shortly petiolate and 1-3-pinnate. Umbels 1-8 cm in diameter; rays 4-16; bracts c. > 4-8, narrow-triangular, acuminate, reflexed; bracteoles 3-6, triangular, confined to outer side of umbellets. Flowers numerous, white, c. 2 mm in diameter. Fruit dark brown, 2.5-3 mm long; ribs slender, light brown, often crenulate.

Distribution Map:

Habitat/ecology:

Grassland, forests, riparian habitats, freshwater wetlands. This plant grows best in moist and fertile soils. The plant can spread quickly in disturbed areas and is highly competitive, preventing the establishment of native grasses and forbs by shading and competing for space.

In New Zealand, waste places, riverbeds, palustral, forest margins. In Chile this species grows in the following environmental conditions: Low altitude, interior valleys; coastal mountains, 500-2000 m; coastal areas, 0-500 m. Somewhat dry areas where the drought may last 3-5 months. Precipitations of 400-800 mm. are concentrated in winter. Fully exposed to the sun. Level areas or slopes facing north. In New South Wales, Australia, “weed of disturbed sites, often near stockyards, along roadsides and riverbanks, widespread.

Propagation:

Seed.

Native range:

Northern Africa, Europe, temperate Asia to western China and northern India.

Sourced From: www.hear.org/pier/species/conium_maculatum.htm