Conium facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Conium |
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| Conium maculatum | |
Scientific classification  |
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| Kingdom: | Plantae |
| Clade: | Tracheophytes |
| Clade: | Angiosperms |
| Clade: | Eudicots |
| Clade: | Asterids |
| Order: | Apiales |
| Family: | Apiaceae |
| Subfamily: | Apioideae |
| Genus: | Conium L. |
| Species | |
Conium (/koʊˈnaɪ.əm/ or /ˈkoʊniəm/) is a group of flowering plants. These plants belong to the family Apiaceae. As of December 2020, there are six known species in the Conium group.
All plants in the Conium group are poisonous to humans. One of the most famous is C. maculatum, also known as hemlock. Hemlock is very poisonous. It grows naturally in cool parts of Europe, North Africa, and Western Asia. Other species like C. chaerophylloides, C. fontanum, and C. sphaerocarpum are found in southern Africa.
Contents
What are Conium Plants Like?
Conium plants are a type of flowering plant called eudicots. This means their seeds have two small leaves when they first sprout. They usually live for two years, which is called being biennial. In their first year, they grow a flat cluster of leaves near the ground. In the second year, they grow a tall, hollow flower stem. Sometimes, if they sprout early in spring, they might only live for one year (annual).
These plants grow best in wet, rich soil that drains poorly. They like soil with lots of nitrogen. They can even grow well in soil with high levels of heavy metals like arsenic, cadmium, and lead. Conium plants are usually 1 to 3 meters (about 3 to 10 feet) tall. Their flowers have both male and female parts. Insects usually help pollinate them, or they can pollinate themselves.
Stems
Conium plants have soft, green stems that are not woody. They are hollow and smooth, without hairs. The stems often have lines or stripes. Their color can change depending on the species. Some have purple spots all over, some only near the bottom, and others have no spots at all.
Leaves
The leaves grow on opposite sides of the stem. They are made up of many smaller leaflets, like a feather. The way these leaflets are arranged can be different for each species. For example, the leaves on the stem of C. maculatum are divided more times than the leaves near the ground. The leaves and their stalks are light green. Like the stems, some species can have purple spots on their leaves.
Flowers
The flowers grow in clusters at the top of the plant. They are usually small and can be white, yellow, or green. These small flowers are grouped together in umbrella-shaped clusters called umbels. Conium plants have compound umbels. This means they have several smaller umbrella-shaped clusters branching out from a main point. Each tiny flower is about 2 millimeters (0.08 inches) wide. The whole umbrella-shaped cluster can be 1 to 8 centimeters (0.4 to 3 inches) wide.
Fruits
The fruit of Conium plants helps tell the different species apart. Each fruit has two seeds. They are usually round, a bit flat, and dark green or brown. They are about 2.5 to 4 millimeters (0.1 to 0.16 inches) long. Some species have clear light brown ridges on their fruit. Others have wavy or less noticeable ridges.
Seeds
Each Conium plant can produce a lot of seeds, from 1,700 to 39,000. About 40-85% of these seeds can sprout if conditions are right. The seeds can stay alive for 3 to 6 years after they fall from the plant. Because they make so many seeds and can grow in many places, these plants can sometimes spread and take over new areas.
Plant Chemicals
Conium plants contain poisonous chemicals called alkaloids in all their parts. As a flower turns into a fruit, these alkaloids change. When eaten, these chemicals affect the body's nervous system. They can make it hard to breathe by paralyzing the muscles needed for breathing. This can lead to death.
How to Tell Conium Apart from Other Plants
It's easy to confuse Conium plants with edible plants from the same family. For example, Conium leaves look like parsley and their roots look like parsnip. However, there are ways to tell the poisonous Conium plants apart:
- Conium leaves and stems smell bad when crushed.
- The species C. maculatum often has purple spots on its stem, which is a key sign.
Plant Names and History
The name "Conium" comes from a Greek word, koneios, meaning 'spin' or 'whirl'. This refers to the dizzy feeling the plant's poison can cause. When people say "hemlock," they usually mean C. maculatum. But sometimes, it can also refer to Cicuta species, also known as water hemlock, which are also very poisonous and look similar.
Carl Linnaeus, a famous scientist, first named the Conium group in 1753.
History
Ancient Greeks knew about Conium and used it for executions. The famous philosopher Socrates was put to death using hemlock.
Conium maculatum was first described by Carl Linnaeus in 1753. It was the first species named in this group. "Maculatum" means "spotted," referring to the purple spots on this plant.
Other species were described later by different botanists. For example, Conium chaerophylloides was described by Christian Friedrich Ecklon and Karl Ludwig Philipp Zeyher in South Africa. C. fontanum and C. sphaerocarpum were described by Olive Mary Hilliard and Brian Laurence Burtt in 1985.
Species
As of December 2020, there are six species accepted in the Conium group:
- Conium chaerophylloides (Thunb.) Eckl. & Zeyh.
- Conium divaricatum Boiss. & Orph.
- Conium fontanum Hilliard & B.L.Burtt
- Conium hilliburttorum Magee & V.R.Clark
- Conium maculatum L.
- Conium sphaerocarpum Hilliard & B.L.Burtt
Conium chaerophylloides
Conium chaerophylloides can grow 2 to 3 meters (about 6.5 to 10 feet) tall. It has unique yellow-green flowers. These flowers form cone-shaped umbels. The outer flowers point outwards, making the cluster look like a cone. Its fruit is round, about 4 millimeters (0.16 inches) long, and dark brown or green with deep, light-colored ridges.
Conium fontanum
Conium fontanum also has cone-shaped umbels. Its fruit is slightly larger than 4 millimeters (0.16 inches) long. The fruit ridges are the same dark green or brown color as the rest of the fruit. This plant grows 1 to 3 meters (about 3 to 10 feet) tall.
Conium hilliburttorum
Conium hilliburttorum has white flowers in round, dome-shaped umbels. Its fruit is small. Researchers say its fruit and ovary (the part that holds the seeds) are different from C. sphaerocarpum. C. hilliburttorum fruit has clear ridges, while C. sphaerocarpum fruit is smoother.
Conium maculatum
Conium maculatum is known for its red or purple spots on its smooth green stem. Some types in southern Africa have a few spots near the bottom of the stem, but most are just green. It grows white flowers in umbrella-shaped clusters.
Conium sphaerocarpum
Conium sphaerocarpum produces smaller fruit, less than 3.5 millimeters (0.14 inches) long. Its fruit is quite smooth, with almost flat ridges that are hard to see. Its small white flowers are arranged in dome-shaped umbels. The outer flowers stick out sideways, making the cluster look like half a sphere. This species usually grows shorter than others in the group.
Where Conium Plants Grow
Conium maculatum is originally from northern Europe, western Asia, and North Africa. The species C. chaerophylloides, C. fontanum, and C. sphaerocarpum are all from southern Africa.
Conium maculatum has been brought to other parts of the world, like the Americas, southern Africa, China, New Zealand, and Australia. It was first brought to the United States from Europe as a garden plant. It has also spread to new places through the movement of grain. In many areas where it has been introduced, C. maculatum has become an invasive species. This means it spreads quickly and can harm local plants.
How Conium Plants Interact with Nature
All Conium species are poisonous to humans and many other mammals. But some insects can eat them. Conium plants can spread into new areas and become invasive.
How Seeds Spread
Conium seeds usually fall close to the parent plant. They spread mainly by wind, water, or animals. Rodents and birds can spread the seeds by carrying them on their fur. Humans have also accidentally or intentionally moved these plants to new places. This has helped them become invasive in some regions.
Relationships with Other Living Things
Conium plants can act like weeds. They can spread into grasslands and areas with short plants. They grow very fast and can crowd out native grass species.
Conium plants use their poisonous nature to protect themselves. Even though they are poisonous, some insects have found ways to eat them without getting sick. For example, a type of moth called Agonopterix alstroemeriana feeds on C. maculatum.
These plants can also host different viruses, bacteria, and insects. These include the carrot rust fly, a bacterium called Xylella fastidiosa, and several plant viruses.
Impact on the Economy
Conium plants are poisonous to many animals, including cows, sheep, goats, pigs, rabbits, elk, and chickens. When animals eat these plants, they can suffer from muscle spasms, diarrhea, sadness, bone problems, and even death. The biggest financial losses from Conium plants come from livestock poisoning. It's estimated that these plants cause about $340 million in livestock losses each year in the western US.
Conium plants can also compete with farm crops like vegetables and grains. They have been found growing in fields of corn, chickpeas, and other vegetables. This can happen in places like Oceania, the Iberian Peninsula, central Europe, and the United States. However, the economic damage to crops from Conium is not as widespread or severe as its effect on animal farms.
Uses of Conium Plants
In the past, people liked the leaves and flowers of Conium plants for their looks. They were grown as decorative plants in gardens. Conium plants were also used as natural barriers and in old medicines. But as people learned that the chemicals in Conium plants were poisonous, their use as decorations and medicines went down.
Today, Conium species are not known to have any good uses. They are mostly seen as weeds. However, C. maculatum is still used as an ingredient in some alternative medicines. Scientists are also studying the poisonous chemicals from these plants to see if they could be used in farming to control pests.
Possible Use as Pesticides
Scientists have found that chemicals from Conium plants can fight insects and other pests. For example, a chemical called coniine was effective against aphids and blowflies. Extracts from Conium plants also stopped a fungal disease that harms mulberry trees. But these ideas are not yet used in real life.
In Medicine
In the past, extracts from Conium plants were used to calm people down and stop muscle spasms. But because the plants are so poisonous, these medical uses stopped by the early 1900s.
Today, there are no accepted medical uses for Conium plants. Despite serious safety concerns, C. maculatum is still used by some people as a home remedy for conditions like anxiety, muscle spasms, and asthma. However, there is little information on how it interacts with other medicines or what a safe dose would be.
Other Uses
Conium maculatum was brought to North America as a plant for gardens. Some plant lovers still grow this species today.
Because Conium plants are dangerous to mammals, they have also been used as natural fences. They can be grown along streams or near fences and pastures to keep animals like wolves away.
How Poisonous are Conium Plants?
All Conium species are very poisonous to humans, many other mammals, and birds (in large amounts). Almost every part of the plant is poisonous. Eating any part of the plant can cause poisoning. Most cases of poisoning happen when people mistake Conium for an edible plant. For example, they might confuse C. maculatum roots with wild parsnips, or its leaves with parsley.
Effects on Humans and Animals
Conium maculatum is especially dangerous for pregnant and breastfeeding women and for children. Even small amounts can cause poisoning. A large dose can cause paralysis, meaning you can't move. It can also cause loss of speech, then stop your breathing, and finally lead to death. These plants can also cause birth defects in farm animals. Birds don't seem to be as affected, but they can still get poisoned by large amounts of seeds.
Treatment for Poisoning
If large animals eat Conium plants, vets might wash out their stomachs. If animals start showing symptoms, they are given help to breathe. They might also be given activated charcoal and a special laxative. Humans who eat Conium plants also receive breathing support and activated charcoal treatment.
Used as a Poison
The Greek philosopher Socrates famously died after being sentenced to death by hemlock. Conium maculatum (poison hemlock) is well-known for its use as a poison. A small amount can cause paralysis. Larger amounts can stop breathing and lead to death. Poison hemlock was used in the past for official executions and assassinations.
Growing Conium Plants
In the past, Conium species were grown as ornamental plants because some people found their flowers attractive. C. maculatum was brought to the US from Europe as a garden plant. However, there have been cases where people accidentally grew C. maculatum for food. They mistook it for common edible plants like parsnip, parsley, wild celery, or anise.
Today, people are less likely to intentionally grow Conium plants in gardens or for herbal medicine because of how dangerous they are.
