Aethusa cynapium

9.9

A poisonous plant that looks like parsley and makes people sick if eaten

noun

Specialized

: Aethusa cynapium

It is important to remove Aethusa cynapium from gardens to prevent accidental poisoning.

Examples

The leaves of Aethusa cynapium are similar in appearance to edible parsley.
Children have mistaken Aethusa cynapium for parsley, with dangerous consequences.
The Aethusa cynapium plant can be very dangerous if ingested.
Many people mistake Aethusa cynapium for harmless parsley.
Children have mistaken Aethusa cynapium for parsley, which can lead to dangerous poisoning if eaten.
It is crucial to remove Aethusa cynapium from gardens to avoid accidental poisoning by this toxic plant.
The leaves of Aethusa cynapium closely resemble those of parsley, making it easy to confuse the two.

Synonyms

lesser hemlock

vsAethusa cynapium

9.9

A plant that looks like parsley and can make you very sick if eaten

is the formal scientific name for the same plant rather than a common name

fool's parsley

vsAethusa cynapium

9.9

A poisonous plant that looks like parsley and can make you sick

is the scientific name for the same plant rather than a common label

Surface Forms

Aethusa cynapium singular

Aethusa cynapiums plural

Morphology

Aethusa + cynapium

This is a Latin binomial scientific name (a proper noun) rather than a compositional English phrase; species epithets like 'cynapium' are not meaningful to a B1 learner and one constituent is listed as unknown. Knowing 'Aethusa' as a poisonous genus would not let a learner derive the exact sense 'a poisonous European plant that causes nausea' from the parts, so the meaning is lexicalized and not inferable.

Etymology

Aethusa cynapium is often called 'fool's parsley' because it looks very like edible parsley but is actually poisonous and can make people sick. That's why the name and old warnings remind us not to eat parsley-like leaves from the wild.