Conium maculatum 399 BC, and his trial resulted in a death sentence. Although Socrates could have avoided death, he decided to take a potent infusion of the hemlock plant. Plato described Socrates' death in the "Phaedo": Although many have questioned whether this is a factual account, it is the perspective of Bloch that careful attention to Plato's words, modern and ancient medicine and other ancient Greek sources point to this account being consistent with "Conium" poisoning. Conium maculatum Conium maculatum, the hemlock or poison hemlock, is a highly poisonous biennial herbaceous flowering plant in the carrot family Apiaceae, native to Europe and
Cream-backed poison frog cream-backed poison frog from the rocket frogs, and placed it in another genus entirely, "Hyloxalus". Like many of the genus "Hyloxalus", "H. subpunctatus" possesses fairly weak toxins, compared to those of other dendrobatids. It may be one of the most primitive of dendrobatids, as it has only begun to develop skin alkaloids and is still fairly drab in coloration. Its poison is already an effective defense mechanism; if tasted by a predator, the alkaloids in the frog's skin cause extreme pain and unpleasant taste. This will usually discourage a predator from attacking a cream-backed poison frog more than once. However,