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 An
Illustrated Guide to
Common Weeds
of New Zealand
Conium
maculatum
hemlock
Family
APIACEAE
Reproduced from
Common
Weeds of New Zealand
by Ian Popay, Paul Champion & Trevor James
ISBN 0 473 09760 5
by kind permission of the
New
Zealand Plant Protection Society
Publication or other use of images or descriptive
text on these pages is unauthorised unless written permission is
obtained from the authors and publisher.
Appropriate acknowledgement
of the publication Common Weeds of New Zealand must always
be given.
Available from Nationwide Book Distributors
Tall, branching,
foul-smelling, ferny leaved, hairless annual or biennial, with purple
spots on leaves and stem. Small flowers in white umbels at the top
of stems up to 2 m tall.
- Flowers
Small, white, 2 mm in diameter, in large terminal compound umbels
up to 8 cm in diameter. Flowers Sep-Jan.
- Fruit
Dark brown barrel-shaped capsules 3 mm in diameter, with light
brown wavy ridges.
- Leaves
Large, alternate, dark green on the upper surface, grey-green
underneath. Fern-like, two to three times pinnately divided, deeply
lobed, egg-shaped final leaflets up to 40 mm long.
- Stems
Smooth, hollow, branching, blue-green. Conspicuously spotted or
blotched purple or pink.
- Roots
Woody taproot.
Habitat
Road-sides, river-beds
and banks, hedgerows, forest margins, damp or marshy places and
waste places.
Distribution
Common throughout NI
and in SI especially Otago and Southland, only occasionally found
in Westland. Occasional on Stewart and Chatham Islands. Originally
from Europe, Asia and north Africa.
Comments
 Plant
dies after flowering. All parts are very poisonous
even when dry. Animals tend not to graze the plant because of
its unpleasant smell. Reputedly the plant with which Socrates
was forced to commit suicide. Subject to Pest Plant Management
Strategies in several regions of NZ. Details are available from
individual regional councils or unitary authorities.
Derivation
of botanical name
Conium (Gr.)
= hemlock; maculatum (Lat.) = spotted.
Web-notes:
Weed Links
On this site
Reproduced from Common Weeds
of New Zealand:
External Links
 Weedbusters
New Zealand
- Weedbusters is a weeds awareness and education programme that aims to
protect New Zealand's environment from the increasing weed problem.
- AgPest
- A free tool to assist farmers and agricultural professionals in decision-making regarding weed and pest identification, biology, impact and management.
 New Zealand Weeds Key
- An interactive identification key to the weeds of New Zealand. Developed at Landcare Research.
New
Zealand Plant Conservation Network naturalised plants
- Search for information on more than 2500 naturalised and weedy plants.
 New
Zealand Plant Protection Society
- Their main objective: "To pool and exchange information on the biology
of weeds, invertebrate and vertebrate pests, pathogens and beneficial organisms
and methods for modifying their effects."
-
 Massey
University Weeds Database- A site providing information about New Zealand weeds and weed control.
It has a series of pages showing pictures of New Zealand weeds, notes on
identification and control. It also provides information on a university
paper entitled Controlling Weeds.
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