Pretty, But Poisonous, Plant Spreads Across Indiana

Plant specialists are warning Hoosiers about a plant that looks like Queen Anne's Lace but is much more toxic.

Poison hemlock is becoming increasingly common in urban Indiana, which poses a problem for people and pets.

“That movement is a bit scary to me because this plant is very toxic and it’s more of an opportunity for kids to play with it and pets to eat it,” said Dan Shaver with the Natural Resources Conservation Service told the Indy Star. “It is not a plant you want around your home or in your local park.” 

Poison hemlock is an invasive species in the state that started appearing within the last five years. It looks like a fern growing close the the ground, but it also produces tall clumps of delicate white flowers.

The issue is in the plant's sap. If touched, it can cause blisters and welts on the skin. The real danger is in eating the plant.

“Where a lot of the accidental ingestions come from with poison hemlock are foragers who think they found a parsnip and they consume it and a lot of bad stuff happens," Dugan Julian with Southern Indiana Cooperative Invasive Species Management told WFIU.

The bad stuff includes trembling, salivation, pupil dilation, muscle paralysis, loss of speech, and respiratory failure if someone goes untreated after eating hemlock.

If you find this in your garden, you can either pull it out or use herbicide to get rid of it completely. Experts advise wearing gloves when working with hemlock.

“It’s important to control it, but it’s something that requires a lot of thought and caution before doing so," said Shaver.