A man inadvertently ate a whole root of the highly poisonous water hemlock (Cicuta virosa L.) plant. The chief symptoms were convulsions, unconsciousness, reddish tinted cyanosis, dilated pupils and marked metabolic acidosis. The patient survived due to treatment with haemodialysis, haemoperfusion,
BACKGROUND
Water hemlock, which encompasses a range of species divided across two genera (Cicuta and Oenanthe), are regarded as being among the most poisonous plants both in North America and in the United Kingdom. Despite their toxicity, the literature consists almost entirely of case