Several deadly or harmful plants look like wild herbs. Wild garlic is confused with lords-and-ladies and lily of the valley, and hemlock and hemlock water dropwort resemble parsley and cow parsley.
The short answer¶
Foraging for herbs is a pleasure, and a few wild plants such as wild-garlic are easy to learn. But some of Britain's most poisonous plants grow in the same places and, to an untrained eye, look similar to edible ones. Each year there are reports in Britain and Europe of people made seriously ill by mistaking one for another. The rule experienced foragers follow is simple: never eat anything you cannot identify with complete certainty. See also foraging-wild-herbs.
Wild garlic and its lookalikes¶
Wild garlic (Allium ursinum), also called ramsons, carpets damp woodland in spring. Its lookalikes grow in similar places at a similar time.
| Plant | Leaves | Key differences | Danger |
|---|---|---|---|
| Wild garlic | Broad, soft, lance-shaped, each on its own stalk from the ground; parallel veins | Strong garlic smell when crushed; star-shaped white flowers in a round head | Edible |
| Lords-and-ladies (Arum maculatum) | Arrow-shaped, glossy, sometimes dark-spotted; net of branching veins; wavy edges | No garlic smell; a hooded spathe, then a spike of bright orange-red berries | Intensely irritant; causes painful swelling of mouth and throat |
| Lily of the valley (Convallaria majalis) | Usually two or three leaves wrapped around each other at the base in a sheath | No garlic smell; small, nodding white bell flowers on one side of the stem | Contains cardiac glycosides; can cause serious heart effects |
| Autumn crocus (Colchicum autumnale) | Leaves appear in spring, broad and strap-like, in a cluster | No garlic smell; flowers in autumn without leaves | Contains colchicine; potentially fatal |
The smell test is useful but has a trap: once your fingers smell of garlic, every leaf you crush afterwards will seem to smell of garlic too. Crush each leaf separately, and wash or wipe your hands, or better, learn the leaf shapes and growth habits so that smell is a confirmation rather than the main evidence. Pick leaf by leaf rather than grabbing handfuls, as a stray lords-and-ladies leaf can grow in the middle of a wild garlic patch.
Hemlock, water dropwort and the carrot family¶
The carrot family (Apiaceae) includes many herbs, including parsley, chervil, dill, fennel, coriander and lovage, and also some of the most poisonous plants in Europe. Many share feathery leaves and umbrella-shaped heads of small white flowers, which is why this family is widely regarded as unsuitable for beginners to forage.
- Hemlock (Conium maculatum) is the plant associated with the death of Socrates. It can grow to two metres or more and is often mistaken for cow parsley, wild chervil or parsley. Tell-tale signs are a smooth stem with purple blotches, and an unpleasant, mousy smell when crushed. All parts are poisonous.
- Hemlock water dropwort (Oenanthe crocata) grows beside streams, ditches and wet ground, and is often described as the most poisonous plant in Britain. Its leaves resemble celery or flat-leaf parsley and its clustered roots, sometimes called dead man's fingers, have been mistaken for parsnips or wild carrot. Poisonings, some fatal, have been reported after people ate the roots or leaves.
- Fool's parsley (Aethusa cynapium), a garden and field weed, looks like flat-leaf parsley and is also toxic, though less so.
⚠️ Leave the umbellifers to the experts
There is no simple test that separates edible from poisonous members of the carrot family. If you want to forage for wild chervil, fennel or alexanders, learn from an experienced person in the field, and grow parsley, chervil and dill yourself instead.
Other confusions¶
- Foxglove (Digitalis purpurea) leaves, before the plant flowers, have been mistaken for borage or comfrey. Foxgloves contain cardiac glycosides.
- Monkshood (Aconitum napellus), a garden plant, is highly toxic and should not be handled without gloves. It is sometimes grown near herbs in cottage gardens.
- Deadly nightshade (Atropa belladonna) berries have been mistaken for bilberries or other fruit.
If you think someone has eaten a poisonous plant¶
This is not medical advice, but general guidance from UK health services is:
- Call 999 if the person is unconscious, having a fit, having difficulty breathing, has chest pain or a very irregular heartbeat, or has severe swelling of the mouth or throat.
- Otherwise call NHS 111 for urgent advice, or go to A&E.
- Take a sample of the plant, or clear photographs of leaves, flowers, stem and roots, to help identification.
- Do not make them sick unless told to by a medical professional.
Symptoms of some of these poisonings can be delayed by hours, so seek advice even if the person seems well.
Safer foraging¶
- Use a good field guide, preferably with photographs of each growth stage, and cross-check against a second source.
- Learn a plant in all seasons, not just when it looks edible.
- Pick from clean sites, away from roadsides, sprayed fields and dog-walking paths.
- Take only what you need, and respect local rules on foraging and protected species. In the UK, it is illegal to uproot wild plants without the landowner's permission.
See also wild-garlic, foraging-wild-herbs, herbals-and-herbalists and planning-a-herb-garden.