DANGEROUS HEMLOCK

Evening Post, Volume CVIV, Issue 2, 3 January 1925, Page 7

DANGEROUS HEMLOCK

A WISE BYLAW NOT,EtiPORCEO • WHAT THE PLANT IS. LIKE. : : Wellington has this year-produced" a.' fin© crop of a particularly dangerous . plant, the poisonous hemlock, in spit© of the fact that a few mouths ago the council adopted a special bylaw naming hemlock as a very noxious weed, and calling upon all and sundry, presumably within the corporation's employ as well as out, to wage war upon it. Hemlock is distributed over a very wide area in city and suburb*,- and within a few weeks' time will be in full seed and unless stops are taken in the meantime" bushels of seed will be sown to. ensure a finer crop next year.- No doubt' if" hemlock was a desirable crop a good deal of care would be required to produce results from half a peck of eeed but it is a weed, and a bad one, and • all the. care is required on the other 'side,... :. „.., -.- - - ■ • ■■■■■• Why children should be attracted by" the leaves, flowers, or seed head* ig-a-- | mystery, for they are Sot "remarkably attractive, but neither, for that ma£ ter, are paint on a- wooden doll, a hard-'' Jul of small coal, and quite a few oth«r i unusual juvenile fodder*. At the pr*. sent time hemlock it not at it* most dangerous etage, but immediately the seed commence* to form the ■weed will change from a somewhat dangerous plant to a very dangerous one,.for the seed, pr.fruit, 'contains as much a> 5 per cent."' or poison, an alkaloid oonine, white Iha leaves and stalk* contain only traces of it. Medicinally the alkaloids are of ' value, but that need not deter the person who is not particularly interested id the production of medical (tore*. The distinguishing feature of hemlock is-the purple splotching of the smooth. stalks, which are hollow .and"bright ' green in.colour. Tlie le*v«s are.some-, what hke-those-of tha-parsnip, con- ■ siderably-Eerra.ted; *nd-a dark- shining"' green";':the'root isValsd isomawHaSkuni-.V lar to that of a small parsnip. The; flowers are carried in a fairly regular umbel of many rays. ..The plant has a decidedly unpleasant- smell, particularly when the leaves or stalks are braised or crushed. The fruit, when ripened, splits into four or five segments. ■ - • -: -.■■,•• There are several weeds similar in general appearance to the hemlock which are harmless enough, but if there is any doubt about that new weed flourishing healthily nearby—there can be none if the purple splotches are in evidence—it will be just as well to follow the principle of safety first and root it out. Far too'- much hemlock grows in and about the'city on vacant sections, on rubbish heaps in backyards, nor is the Hutt Valley free of this danger plant. The bylaw is all in; order; it 'will be pitiable if .its enforcement "must! wait upon the reminder of another accident.