The Way I See Things

By JDO

Wine flower

According to Wikipedia the genus name of this plant, Oenanthe, is derived from the Greek oinos "wine" and anthos "flower", and comes from the wine-like scent of the flowers. I can't say that I've noticed this, but there are only two of them on my water-dropwort so far, and they're very small. As you can see they're still only partially open, but even when all the flowers have unfurled the umbels won't be more than a couple of inches across.

I haven't been able to discover whether tubular water-dropwort, which is a low-growing plant of marshes and the shallow edges of pools and streams - and which I've added to both our new ponds - is anywhere near as poisonous as its notorious cousin hemlock water-dropwort, but I certainly won't be subjecting it to a taste test. One plant in the genus, Oenanthe javanica, is edible and is widely consumed in the Far East and in the Indian subcontinent; but several others produce a chemical called oenanthotoxin, which is a central nervous system poison.

Italian researchers believe that the "sardonic herb" used to euthanise old people in Sardinia in ancient times may have been hemlock water-dropwort. I hope that our current rulers don't get to hear about this: I wouldn't want then getting any bright ideas.

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