Due to plentiful spring rains, an abundance of early summer wild flowers are blooming on the Ozarks, including massive clusters of tall flowering poison hemlock. We meet up with botanist Jennifer Ogle, University of Arkansas Herbarium Collections Manager, on a meadow south of Cane Hill to discuss the history of this pretty pollinating plant — as well as its highly toxic nature.
Beware the Beautiful Blooming Hemlock
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Poison hemlock plants bloom through early summer, then go to seed.
J.Froelich / KUAF
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Botanist Jennifer Ogle examines flowering white poison hemlock plants on a Cane Hill pasture
J.Froelich / KUAF
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Botanist Jennifer Ogle, wearing protective gloves, chops a large stalk of poison hemlock to better reveal its structure.
J.Froelich / KUAF
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Silvery-green Poison hemlock stalks, mottled with purple, are hollow.
J.Froelich / KUAF
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The late noted herbalist, author and photographer Steven Foster once wrote that poison hemlock, "a gangly plant of no particular beauty ... causes death variously described as tranquil to violently delirious."
Courtesy / Steven Foster