Conium maculatum known by the common name hemlock, even though the two plants are quite different. Similarly, the plant should not be confused with "Cicuta" (commonly known as water hemlock). The dried stems are sometimes called kecksies or kex. "Conium" comes from the Ancient Greek "κώνειον - kṓneion" : "hemlock". This may be related to "konas" (meaning to whirl), in reference to vertigo, one of the symptoms of ingesting the plant. "Conium maculatum" is an herbaceous biennial flowering plant that grows to tall, with a smooth, green, hollow stem, usually spotted or streaked with red or purple on the lower half of
Poison "gu" poison. Poison was also employed in gunpowder warfare. For example, the 14th-century Chinese text of the "Huolongjing" written by Jiao Yu outlined the use of a poisonous gunpowder mixture to fill cast iron grenade bombs. The term "poison" is also used in a figurative sense. The "[s]lang sense of "alcoholic drink" [is] first attested 1805, American English." (e.g., a bartender might ask a customer "what's your poison?") Figurative use of the term dates from the late 15th century. Figuratively referring to persons as poison dates from 1910. The figurative term "poison-pen letter" became well known in "...1913 by a