hemlock water dropwort
- noun
- UK
:
cicuta de agua
- Eating even a small amount of hemlock water dropwort can be fatal to humans and livestock.
Examples
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The leaves of hemlock water dropwort are sometimes mistaken for parsley or celery by foragers.
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Botanists warn that hemlock water dropwort grows near streams and should be handled with extreme caution.
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The hemlock water dropwort is found in many parts of Europe.
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Be careful not to touch the hemlock water dropwort.
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Eating even a small amount of hemlock water dropwort can be fatal to humans and livestock.
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Botanists warn that hemlock water dropwort grows near streams and should be handled with extreme caution.
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The leaves of hemlock water dropwort are sometimes mistaken for parsley or celery by foragers.
Synonyms
A European plant with thick roots and yellow juice that is very poisonous
A very poisonous plant with yellow flowers and leaves like celery that can harm people and animals
A poisonous plant in Europe that grows in wet places like marshes, called water dropwort
A poisonous plant that grows in water or wet ground
A plant with umbrella-shaped flower clusters that grows in wet places and is often poisonous
Surface Forms
Morphology
The name is compositionally transparent: 'hemlock' signals a poisonous plant, 'water' indicates a wetland habitat, and 'dropwort' names a plant genus, so a learner can infer this is a water-associated dropwort similar to/related to hemlock (i.e., a poisonous wetland plant). Plant-naming compounding is cross-linguistically common and follows normal English noun-modifier patterns, making the overall meaning predictable for a B1 learner who knows the constituents.
Etymology
The name hemlock water dropwort gives a clear warning: hemlock points to 'poison', water shows it grows near streams, and dropwort — one popular story says — refers to small drop-like roots or flowers. So the name helps you remember that this plant is very poisonous and often found by water.
