Garden Magick // Hellebore

Nowadays hellebores grace the gardens of many people, providing a welcome sight in the depths of winter as they flower in spite of the cold. For this quality they are often called the 'Christmas Rose'.

However, hellebore wasn't always thought of so fondly. If you look back through history, hellebore has been used as both a medicine and a poison. It was traditionally used as a cure for paralysis and gout, yet it caused more problems than it solved - its list of side-effects stretch from tinnitus and vertigo to heart attack, stupors and death. Not one to go brewing in your tea!

Due to its sinister capabilities, folklore has cloaked this plant in darkness and mystery - it is often associated with witchcraft. It is also famed for being the agent of the death of Alexander the Great. A fascinating little plant - and one which will always seem more positive than otherwise to me. I just love it's star-shaped blooms. 

Friend or foe?

Whenever I see cow-parsley it makes me smile: this plant's delicate flowers, reminiscent of lace, seem at odds with its ugly-sounding name.

Wild chervil, as it is also known, can be found all over the British Isles, along hedgerows and roadside verges.  At this time of year, thousands of tiny white umbrellas can be seen down our country lanes.

These flowers look so fragile and harmless - and the plant is in fact edible. If indeed it is cow parsley you are picking.

The family of plants of which cow parsley is a part - known as umbellifers - also contains a less friendly and far more harmful species: poison hemlock.

Poison hemlock can be deadly to both humans and livestock if ingested and looking at these images, I wouldn't like to try to tell the difference. I couldn't even say with certainty if my photographs are cow parsley and not hemlock. 

Advice for telling the two apart suggests crushing some of the leaves - the hemlock will smell musty, like the smell associated with mice. The hemlock is also likely to be a taller plant than the parsley and there are likely to be purplish blotches on its smooth stem. 

As with any wild plant, unless you are absolutely certain, it is best to be avoided.