fool's-parsley

American  

[foolz-pahrs-lee] / ˈfulzˌpɑrs li /

noun

1. an Old World fetid, poisonous plant, Aethusa cynapium, resembling parsley.

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fool's-parsley British  

noun

1. an evil-smelling Eurasian umbelliferous plant, Aethusa cynapium , with small white flowers: contains the poison coniine

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Etymology

Origin of fool's-parsley

First recorded in 1745–55

Example Sentences

Summer had burnt up this abandoned pasturage, and while they sat in silence Guy rattled from the rank umbels of fool's-parsley and hemlock the innumerable seeds that would only profit the rankness of another year.

From Plashers Mead A Novel by MacKenzie, Compton

A jar of buttercups and fool's-parsley in the window-bottom kept her away in the meadows, where in the lush grass the moon-daisies were half-submerged, and a spray of pink ragged robin.

From The Rainbow by Lawrence, D. H. (David Herbert)