Conium maculatum disturbed ground. It is used as a food plant by the larvae of some Lepidoptera species, including silver-ground carpet. The poison hemlock moth ("Agonopterix alstroemeriana") feeds on the plant during its larval stage. "A. alstroemeriana" has been widely used as a biological control agent for "C. maculatum". Poison hemlock flourishes in the spring, when most other forage is gone. All plant parts are poisonous, but once the plant is dried, the poison is greatly reduced, although not gone completely. The plant is poisonous to animals that graze on it. "Conium" contains the piperidine alkaloids coniine, N-methylconiine, conhydrine, pseudoconhydrine and gamma-coniceine
Mandragora (genus) Mandragora (genus) Mandragora is a plant genus belonging to the nightshade family (Solanaceae). Members of the genus are known as mandrakes. There are between three and five species in the genus. The one or two species found around the Mediterranean constitute the mandrake of ancient writers such as Dioscorides. Two or three further species are found eastwards into China. All are perennial herbaceous plants, with large tap-roots and leaves in the form of a rosette. Individual flowers are bell-shaped, whitish through to violet, and are followed by yellow or orange berries. Like many members of the Solanaceae, species of "Mandragora"