Hemlock Water-dropwort - Oenanthe crocata

Tall, hairless, parsley scented plant to 1.5 metres. Stem hollow. Basal leaves 3 to 4 pinnate with broad oval or rounded leaflets, lobed and toothed. Stem leaves 2 to 3 pinnate with narrower leaflets. Flowers white, 2 mm in umbels with 10 to 40 rays, not thickened in fruit. Bracts linear.

Pinnate leaves have ovate or rounded segments; all umbels terminal with peduncles longer than rays.

A photograph of the plant in its habitat, showing leaves and side-on view of umbels

Canal margins, waterside areas and wet places.

Flowers June to August.

Perennial.

Widespread in southern and western Britain but rather scarce elsewhere.

Near scarce in Leicestershire and Rutland, but appears to be increasing its range. It was not recorded in the Flora of Leicestershire (Primavesi and Evans 1988)

In the current Checklist (Jeeves, 2011) it is listed as Native; rare.  First recorded in VC55 in Hemington in 1997, also from the Ashby Canal and River Trent areas.

It was on the 2011 VC55 Rare Plant Register (Jeeves, 2011) but it appears to be increasing its range, and no longer meets the criteria for inclusion on the current RPR (Hall and Woodward, 2022)