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| Florida Hemlock, North America's Most Toxic Plant (Cicuta maculata) Wekiva River, May 2020 |
Spectacular fields of Florida Hemlock (Cicuta maculata) are in bloom across Central Florida in and near rivers and swamps. This carrot family plant is also referred to simply as "hemlock" or by the common names spotted water hemlock, spotted parsley, spotted cowbane, or suicide root.
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| Florida Hemlock, (Cicuta maculata) umbels of flowers Wekiva River, May 2020 |
The Wekiva River hosts hundreds of thousands acres of hemlock on the river's floating Eelgrass islands. The plants are anchored to the Eelgrass in shallow portions of the river so they are not really growing on anything but a floating mat of vegetation.
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| Florida Hemlock, North America's Most Toxic Plant (Cicuta maculata) Wekiva River, May 2020 |
Florida Hemlock is one of the most toxic plants known to man. The plant is occasionally mistaken for parsnips, due to its clusters of white tuberous roots; this would be a fatal error, as Florida Hemlock is extremely poisonous. This is the most toxic plant found in North America.
The primary poison in Florida Hemolock is cicutoxin, an unsaturated aliphatic alcohol that is most concentrated in the plant's roots. Upon human consumption, nausea, vomiting, and tremors occur within 30-60 minutes, followed by severe cramps, projectile vomiting, and convulsions. Ingestion of Florida Hemlock in any quantity can result in death or permanent damage to the central nervous system.
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| Florida Hemlock, North America's Most Toxic Plant (Cicuta maculata) Wekiva River, May 2020 Roots and stems are the most toxic part of the plant. |
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| Florida Hemlock, North America's Most Toxic Plant (Cicuta maculata), swarmed with honeybees and love bugs Wekiva River, May 2020 |
In the Wekiva River, where these images were made, the plants are large, highly branched and grow to 8-feet tall in what could best be described as wet meadows of floating mats of vegetation. Throughout the Wekiva the wet meadows are bisected by alligator trails, and one can hear a constant grunting or croaking of alligators coming from the dense fields of Florida Hemlock.
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| Florida Hemlock, North America's Most Toxic Plant (Cicuta maculata), plants are primarily green but may exhibit a rusty, purplish appearance Wekiva River, May 2020 |
Some of the plants in the Wekiva take on a rusty look to their stalks with purple or purple striped stalks. Presumably the purple colored plants are anchored in more muck than Eelgrass and thus they ingest some of the tannins of the mucky river bottom (above).
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| Florida Hemlock, North America's Most Toxic Plant (Cicuta maculata) Wekiva River, May 2020 |
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| Florida Hemlock, North America's Most Toxic Plant (Cicuta maculata), Alligator trails bisect the endless floating marshes of Florida Hemlock Wekiva River, May 2020 |
The plant produces large, dome-shaped umbels of flowers. An umbel is made of many small flowers that are all attached, more or less at the same point. The flowers are tiny, white, and have 5 petals. The flower umbels are in long stalks that grow from leaf axels at the tips of the stems.
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| Florida Hemlock, North America's Most Toxic Plant (Cicuta maculata) Wekiva River, May 2020 |
The leaves of Florida Hemlock are large and double- or triple-compound. A triple-compound leaf has leaflets that make up larger leaflets, that make upeven larger leaflets, that make up an entire large leaf. These compound leaves are often a foot or more long and 2 feet wide. The compound leaves are arranged alternately on the stem.
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| Florida Hemlock, North America's Most Toxic Plant (Cicuta maculata) Wekiva River, May 2020 |
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| Florida Hemlock, North America's Most Toxic Plant (Cicuta maculata) Wekiva River, May 2020 |
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| Florida Hemlock, North America's Most Toxic Plant (Cicuta maculata), honeybees seem unaffected by the plant's toxicity Wekiva River, May 2020 |
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| Florida Hemlock, North America's Most Toxic Plant (Cicuta maculata) Wekiva River, May 2020 |
While many species of aquatic plants are considered edible and have white flowers. This is not an edible plant! Florida Hemlock is extremely toxic to humans and animals and could cause death if ingested.
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| Florida Hemlock, North America's Most Toxic Plant (Cicuta maculata) Wekiva River, May 2020 caption |
In Florida, in general it is best to avoid all plants near water with clusters of white flowers. Florida Hemlock is easily confused with less toxic plants with similar blooms like Elderberry. If you don't know for sure, leave it alone.
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| Florida Animal Tracks Pocket Guide click on the image for a larger view |
Florida's wildlife is on the move. Know what tracks you're following with this handy guide. Note that the tracks are NOT drawn to scale.
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Greece Opens for Tourists
Greece is attempting to revive its tourism industry, announcing that holidaymakers will be able to return to its beaches within weeks.
In an address to the nation, the Greek prime minister, Kyriakos Mitsotakis, said 15 June was the official start date of a tourist season delayed by the global coronavirus pandemic and that direct international flights to the country's tourist destinations would resume gradually from 1 July 2020.
Travelers from UK, USA and other countries will not be quarantined but will have to undergo coronavirus tests, the center-right leader said, in an attempt to ally fears of the virus being brought in from abroad.
This imagined Tourism Organisation Poster Ad campaign is just that. Imagined. Thanks to the images most of the world sees of Greece on Instagram at @greekscometrue by photographer Yiorgos Kaplanidis, @kaplanidis.
We're still waiting for the ad campaign with the tag line "No Mask Required." We'll imagine some posters for that soon too.
We're still waiting for the ad campaign with the tag line "No Mask Required." We'll imagine some posters for that soon too.