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
Bane (plant) In the Southeastern United States, sheep and cattle straying into woodland and grazing "Kalmia latifolia" have been known to suffer from its toxic effects. Bane (plant) The term bane (from , meaning "thing causing death, poison"), in botany, is an archaic element in the common names of plants known to be toxic or poisonous. In the Middle Ages, several poisonous plants of the genus Aconitum were thought to have or prophylactic qualities, repelling and protecting against that which they were "banes" to (e.g. "Henbane", "Wolfsbane"). There is no single species, genus, or family of poisonous plant exclusively referred to as