Angelica is a great medicinal and culinary plant that can grow in the wild. There are many plants that look similar to Angelica, some of which are toxic. Is this plant Angelica or a poisonous look alike?
Angelica's lateral veins run to the tips of the serrations whereas water hemlock's run to the "cuts" in the serrations. "Vein to the cut, pain in the gut."
@pap papinski THANK YOU for that information. However, I looked up photos of what the poster says is water hemlock, and I see veins going to the tips AND the cuts. Photos I checked of posted angelica only to the tips (that I can see). Can you clarify?
Thank you sooooooo much for going over this in detail...... I’ve been looking for someone willing to do this for almost a year 🤯 You make this so easy.... I found Angelica last year and the seeds were delicious... kind of tasted like cumin
Wow! So cool that you made this informative video. I spotted this plant a couple of weeks ago next to a dirt road. It was driving me crazy trying to identify it. You may have pointed me in the right direction. Of course I will do much more of my own research to be safe. "Prepper poison." ...lol good one.
Very informative, P.P. Definitely one not to mess with unknown flora! Some brave individual(s) probably found out the hard way what was angelica and what wasn't.
I just rewatched this video two years later and am still learning new things. It was the first video that highlighted the confusion between poisonous and edible plants of the carrot family: Wild parsnip (aka poison parsnip) Giant Hogweed Water hemlock Poison Hemlock Cow parsnip Wild carrot (aka Queen Anne's Lace) The key is to look at the stems, leaves, and flowers. And, several have phototoxins that give you a rash (like she shows in the video). So much to learn and share.
We have a plant at a nearby park here in Northern Virginia that I'm 99% sure is water hemlock. After watching this I'm even more sure it is. They grow everywhere here!
The West Coast Queen Anne's lace and parsnip flowers have twiggy flower branches are young and infolded like cramped fingers on your hand. Then they open up and out into the upward twiggy flower umbrella shape. Some say that you can also look at the flower twigs and make some more identification, but not sure how viable that is whether green or dry. Put it this way, if this plant is near water - its a no no i.e. "water" hemlock probability. Wetlands dirt soil away from creek side, hmmm, further identification needed. In dry and open cow pasture meadows, and the cows haven't eaten it - don't eat it (!).
We have angelica in our backyard garden which I planted years ago where water from sump pump discharges flow past on their way to a storm sewer. As a word of caution angelica will get aggressive and soon it can dominate. I even wind up mowing the seedlings that come up in the lawn nearby.
Anyone else wondering why we even engage with Angelica as a medicine or food at all? Unless starvation is a concern, there are so many other options that don’t have deadly look-alikes/risk of misidentification
That's why I buy the seeds if I can't have my horticulture extension identify the herb. I'm not that experienced with wild herbs and I don't want to take a chance with my family.
This is meant to be constructive so please bear with me. It would have been much more helpful if you had shown the look alikes said by side with which ever plant you we had growing there because it's more instructive. I do more voice overs in my videos because I want it to be about the subject matter not about me.
