Vascular Plants of North Carolina
Account for Poison-hemlock - Conium maculatum   L.
Members of Apiaceae:
Only member of Conium in NC.
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Section 6 » Order Apiales » Family Apiaceae
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AuthorL.
DistributionMostly in the Piedmont, scattered in the Mountains, scarce in the Coastal Plain. First collected in 1949 in waste ground west of Greensboro, Guilford County. The Anson record is a photo of a robust plant at iNat website by Becky Dill.

Native of Eurasia; in N.A. essentially throughout.
AbundanceUncommon to locally fairly common in the Piedmont, rare to uncommon in the Mountains and Coastal Plain.
HabitatRoadsides, pastures, fencerows, creek and stream banks, waste ground, yard weed, railroad.
PhenologyFlowering and fruiting May-July.
IdentificationPoison-hemlock is a rank plant up to 6 feet tall, but often only 3-5 feet tall. Stems typically are spotted and glabrous. The leaves are large, cut fernlike, the outline triangular, the segments with narrow lobes. The inflorescences are prominent, compound, the flowers white. All parts are toxic. The somewhat similar Cicuta maculata has much broader leaflets that are not cut so deeply as to look "lacy".
Taxonomic Comments
Other Common Name(s)
State RankSE
Global RankG5
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US Status
USACE-agcpFACW link
USACE-empFACW link
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B.A. SorrieSame data. Photo_non_NCPhoto_non_NC
B.A. SorrieRoadside rest area, Berea KY, late May 2018. Photo_non_NCPhoto_non_NC
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