Herbal Roulette
relief print

“Amateurs fooling with plants in the parsley family are playing herbal roulette.”  Steven Foster and James A. Duke, A Field Guide to Medicinal Plants 

The sprawling Apiaceae family of plants inspires a recent addition to the As Potent as a Charm series of poisonous botanicals, Herbal Roulette. Although commonly known as the parsley or carrot family, relatives include poison hemlock and other miscreants, leading one botanist to refer to fooling with plants in this family as playing “herbal roulette.” 

Apiaceae (or Umbelliferae), commonly known as the parsley family of plants, is the sixteenth largest family of flowering plants, containing 3700 species. Members include both culinary favorites and infamous poisons.

from top, clockwise beginning at Socrates’ goblet:

Hemlock  Conium maculatum ☠
Rattlesnake Master Eryngium yuccifolium
Parsley  Petroselenum crispum
Water Hemlock  Cicuta maculata ☠
Coriander, Cilantro  Coriadrum sativum
Black Sanicle, Snakeroot  Sanicula marilandica
Fool’s Parsley  Aethursa cynapium ☠
Celery  Apium graveolens
Carrot  Daucus carota
Cow Parsnip  Heracleum lanatum ☠
Queen Anne’s Lace  Daucus carota
Angelica  Angelica atropurpurea

   
detail views including the ‘corner crows’

Look for Herbal Roulette in Akron’s upcoming High Arts Festival.