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Aethusa cynapium

Common name:	Fool's Parsley	Family:	Umbelliferae
Author:	L.	Botanical references:	17
Synonyms:
Known Hazards:	The entire plant is poisonous though less so than Conium maculatum (q.v.)[4, 10, 19]. Small amounts can cause pain, confusion of vision and vomiting[268]. The dried plant might be safe to eat[10].
Range:	Most of Europe, including Britain, to the Caucasus and south to Algeria.
Habitat:	Grows in waste places and is also a common weed of cultivated ground but rarer in the north of Britain[9, 17].
Edibility Rating (1-5):	1	Medicinal Rating (1-5):	1

Other Possible Synonyms:	From various places across the web, may not be correct. See below.
	Anthriscus cynapium[H]
Other Common Names:	From various places around the Web, may not be correct. See below.
	Faux Persil [E], Fool'S Parsley [E], Fool's Parsley [H,L,P], Fool's-parsley [B], Fool(S Parsley [E], Hondspeterselie [D], Hundpetersilie [E], Kucik Baldiran [E], Perzin D'Tchin [E], Petite Cigue [E],
Systematics:	From a USDA Plants Database
	Order: Apiales. Renamed to Apiaceae -- Carrot family
Other Range Info:	From the Ethnobotany Database
	Belgium; Britain; France; France; Germany; Turkey; Us; Us(Amerindian)

Physical Characteristics

Annual growing to 1.2m. . It is in flower from July to August, and the seeds ripen from August to September. The scented flowers are hermaphrodite (have both male and female organs) and are pollinated by Insects. The plant is self-fertile. We rate it 1/5 for edibility and 1/5 for medicinal use.

The plant prefers light (sandy), medium (loamy) and heavy (clay) soils. The plant prefers acid, neutral and basic (alkaline) soils. It can grow in full shade (deep woodland) semi-shade (light woodland) or no shade. It requires dry or moist soil.

Habitats and Possible Locations

Woodland, Dappled Shade, Shady Edge, Deep Shade.

Edible Uses

Leaves.

Leaves - raw or cooked[105]. It is very inadvisable to eat this plant, see the notes above on toxicity[177].

Medicinal Uses

Disclaimer

Sedative; Stomachic.

Although fairly toxic, fool's parsley has occasionally been used in folk medicine[268]. The herb is sedative and stomachic. It has been used in the treatment of gastro-intestinal problems, especially in children, and also to treat convulsions and summer diarrhoea[4, 61, 268]. Extreme caution in the use of this herb is advised, see the notes above on toxicity.

Other Uses

None known

Cultivation details

We have no details for this species, see its native habitat above for ideas on its cultivation needs.
All parts of the plant have an unpleasant smell reminiscent of hemlock (Conium maculatum)[245].

Propagation

Seed - we have no details on this species but suggest sowing the seed in situ as soon as it is ripe or in spring.

Scent

Plant: Crushed: All parts of the plant have the evil smell of hemlock.

Suppliers

For more details of plant suppliers please see our Suppliers Page which lists many more places to look.

Web References

Details of Medicinal Uses, Habitats, etc. in M. Grieve A Modern Herbal (1931) [4]
[H] Details of Scandanavian and European Common names in Henriette's names database
[E] Ethnobotany Data (common names, uses, countries) from the Ethnobotany Database.
[V] Images from the Vascular Plant Image Gallery of the Texas A&M Bioinformatics Working Group.
[B] Data (Latin & Common names, other references) from the BONAP's Synonymized Checklist of the Vascular Flora of the United States, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands.
[G] Data (Common Names, Uses, Distribution) from the USDA/ARS NPGS's GRIN taxonomic database.
[PHARM] Phytochemical Data (common names, uses, countries) from Dr Duke's Phytochemical Database.
[P] Data. (uses, distribution, wetland) from the USDA'a Plants database.
[HP] Links, Photos, Suppliers from Hortiplex Plant Database

References for aethusa cynapium (a possible synonym).

[HP] PhotoFrom Henriette's plant pictures
[HP] PhotoFrom Henriette's plant pictures

See the PFAF Links Pages for other sources.

Also try Photos and info from the The Plants Database which has 14,000 images.

References

[4] Grieve. A Modern Herbal. Penguin 1984 ISBN 0-14-046-440-9
Not so modern (1930's?) but lots of information, mainly temperate plants.

[9] Launert. E. Edible and Medicinal Plants. Hamlyn 1981 ISBN 0-600-37216-2
Covers plants in Europe. a drawing of each plant, quite a bit of interesting information.

[10] Altmann. H. Poisonous Plants and Animals. Chatto and Windus 1980 ISBN 0-7011-2526-8
A small book, reasonable but not very detailed.

[17] Clapham, Tootin and Warburg. Flora of the British Isles. Cambridge University Press 1962
A very comprehensive flora, the standard reference book but it has no pictures.

[19] Stary. F. Poisonous Plants. Hamlyn 1983 ISBN 0-600-35666-3
Not very comprehensive, but easy reading.

[61] Usher. G. A Dictionary of Plants Used by Man. Constable 1974 ISBN 0094579202
Forget the sexist title, this is one of the best books on the subject. Lists a very extensive range of useful plants from around the world with very brief details of the uses. Not for the casual reader.

[105] Tanaka. T. Tanaka's Cyclopaedia of Edible Plants of the World. Keigaku Publishing 1976
The most comprehensive guide to edible plants I've come across. Only the briefest entry for each species, though, and some of the entries are more than a little dubious. Not for the casual reader.

[177] Kunkel. G. Plants for Human Consumption. Koeltz Scientific Books 1984 ISBN 3874292169
An excellent book for the dedicated. A comprehensive listing of latin names with a brief list of edible parts.

[245] Genders. R. Scented Flora of the World. Robert Hale. London. 1994 ISBN 0-7090-5440-8
An excellent, comprehensive book on scented plants giving a few other plant uses and brief cultivation details. There are no illustrations.

[268] Stuart. M. (Editor) The Encyclopedia of Herbs and Herbalism Orbis Publishing. London. 1979 ISBN 0-85613-067-2
Excellent herbal with good concise information on over 400 herbs.

Readers Comments

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Plant information taken from the Plants For A Future - Species Database. Copyright (c) 1997-2003.
WEB search engine by Rich Morris - Home Page- Contact Info
Blagdon Cross, Ashwater, Beaworthy, Devon, EX21 5DF, UK.
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We make no claims of magical effects or supernatural powers for any item in this catalog. In spite of legendary attributes or occult and craft tradition, such items are offered as curios only and beliefs concerning their magical effectiveness are related only for historical interest.