Poisonous Plant Look-A-Likes
Thursday, October 30th, 2008Many of us have been out hiking or even walking through the woods just for a stroll and have come across a plants or plants that we think may be one thing, but they end up being something completely different. There are three main ones that you should always avoid, that look just like their counterpart.
Wild Garlic/Onion (Allium canadense) VS. Death Camas (Zigadenus spp.): I am guilty of getting these two confused. There are several Death Camas growing in the field behind my home and a neighbor and I dug a few up an added them to our flower beds. Little did I know that this was not a plant or flower of beauty? Wild garlic and wild onion are all edible and they tend to have an onion odor to them as well, but the death camas has bulbs and leaves that look similar but all the parts of this plant are highly poisonous.
Wild Carrots (Daucus carota) VS. Poison Hemlock (Conium maculatum): Wild carrots is similar to its counterpart by the way it looks for sure, but if you take a closer look you can see they are very different. Wild carrots’ roots are edible and are used for medicinal purposes. It also has a broad, wide flowering top on it that normally is white, while poison hemlock is similar but has many smaller white flowering tops instead of just a wide single bloom. Poison Hemlock’s roots are very toxic and the stems also have purple markings so you can tell which is which by just a glance.
Comfrey (Symphytum officinale) VS. Foxglove (Digitalis purpurea): The leaves of the comfrey root can be used in salves and creams topically but the comfrey root can cause liver damage though if taken internally, on the other hand foxglove leaves can have fatal results. Foxglove is often confused with comfrey and the difference if a great deal.
To learn more about poisonous plants, please visit here.
