MILESTONES POISONOUS (hemlock)
A perennial herbaceous plant from the Apiaceae family. The stem is smooth, branched, up to 1.5 m high. The leaves are double- or triple-pinnate, with narrow-lanceolate, acutely serrated lobes. The flowers are small, white, arranged in complex umbrellas with 10-15 main rays. The fruit is a two seedling, rounded, breaking up when ripe into two fruitlets, of which five longitudinal flat ribs stand out on the back of each. Blooms in July-August.
The milestone is found in wet and damp forest meadows, in swamps, marshy river banks, and on the outskirts of lakes in almost all regions of Russia.
One of the most harmful plants. Depending on the time of year and climatic conditions, the toxicity varies. In spring, the rhizome is more poisonous.
In folk medicine, the aerial part of the plant is used as an external remedy (in ointments and tinctures) for chronic painful rashes.
Preparations from fresh rhizomes are used in homeopathy for epilepsy, tetanus and convulsions in the postpartum period.