Small white flowers from poison hemlock grow clustered together in a roadside ditch in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, on Tuesday, July 29, 2025. Hemlock is a toxic biennial plant, meaning it takes two years for the plant to complete its lifecycle. Credit: Olivia Cohen, The Cedar Rapids Gazette
The toxic plant that killed Socrates thousands of years ago is becoming more prevalent in the Midwest.
Poison hemlock is an invasive biennial plant that has tall, smooth stems with fern-like leaves and clustered small white flowers. It can grow up to eight feet tall…