poison parsley
- noun
- Mistaking poison parsley for an edible herb can have fatal consequences.
Examples
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The children were warned to stay away from the poison parsley growing along the riverbank.
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Farmers removed poison parsley from their fields to protect their livestock.
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The garden was overrun with poison parsley.
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Don't touch that poison parsley!
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Farmers removed poison parsley from their fields to protect their livestock.
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Mistaking poison parsley for an edible herb can have fatal consequences.
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The children were warned to stay away from the poison parsley growing along the riverbank.
Synonyms
A tall poisonous plant with fern-like leaves and clusters of white flowers
A very poisonous European and African plant with fernlike leaves and white flower clusters in damp places
A plant with large fern-like leaves that is very poisonous and grows in wet places
A large plant with leaves like a fern and white flowers with all parts very poisonous
A large plant with leaves like a fern, small white flowers, and all parts very poisonous if eaten
How Toxic
Surface Forms
Morphology
poison + parsley
The compound is directly compositional: 'poison' modifies 'parsley', indicating a parsley-like plant that is poisonous, so a learner who knows both constituents can infer it denotes a toxic herb/plant. This follows common noun + noun compounding patterns (e.g. 'poison ivy', 'poison oak') and is cross-linguistically transparent, making the meaning accessible to a B1 learner.
Etymology
Poison parsley gets its name because the plant looks like the common herb parsley but is actually poison. Imagine picking what you think is an 'edible' herb and finding it 'poisonous', so the name warns people to stay away.