SPECIES DESCRIPTION
CONIUM MACULATUM
Including:- Conium divaricatum
Family and Genus:- See- UMBELLIFERAE
Common Name:- Hemlock
Homotypic Synonyms:- Cicuta major, Cicuta officinalis, Conium cicuta,
Coriandrum cicuta, Coriandrum maculatum
Meaning:- Conium (Gr) The Greek name for Hemlock.
Maculatum (L) Spotted, blotched.
General description:- Biennial plant with a stinking smell.
Stem:-
1) 50-250 cm, hollow, pruinose, usually with reddish-brown spots below.
Leaves:-
1) Lower 2- to 4-pinnate, smooth;
a) Lobes 10-20 mm. oblong-lanceolate or triangular, deeply pinnately-lobed or
with rounded teeth.
Flowers:-
1) Umbels with white flowers.
2) Rays, (6-)10-20, often puberulent.
3) Bracts, (0-)5-6, narrowly triangular to ovate-lanceolate, deflexed, margin,
scarious.
a) Bracteoles,3-6, on the outside of the partial umbel, widened at the base and
often connate.
Fruit:-
1) 2·5-3·5 mm, almost globular. compressed at the sides.
Key features:-
1) Stem, with purple spots.
2) Bracts, 4-5.
3) Fruit, globular. compressed at the sides.
Habitat:- Damp roadsides, ditches and ruderal habitats, occasionally in
streambeds, woodland margins and other semi-natural habitats. 0-800 m.
Distribution:- Scattered throughout Greece. - Europe, Cyrenaica and SW Asia to
Afghanistan. Fairly limited distribution on Crete, but locally abundant.
Flowering time:- May-July.
Photos by:- Steve Lenton
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CONIUM DIVARICATUM Back to Top
Homotypic Synonyms:- None
Meaning:- Divaricatum (L) Wide-spreading, straggling.
Resembling Conium maculatum, but differering in the following characters:-
1) Stem, unspotted.
2) Rays, divergent.
3) Bracts, usually lacking.
a) Bractlets linear-lanceolate, free at the base.
4) Rays and pedicels, glabrous.
5) Fruit, with obtuse and less prominent ridges.
Habitat:- Same kind of habitats as for C. maculatum, 0-800 m
Distribution:- So far this pecies has been recorded only from Greece. Rare on
Crete, currently known from a few locations in the west.
Flowering time:- April-July.
Photos by:- Christopher Cheiladakis
