Who doesn't like hemlock umbels?

Jim Deutch

Well-Known Member
All my life I've made the same mistake and had the same confusion as this blog author:

http://khkeeler.blogspot.com/2014/12/plant-confusion-hemlock-both-umbels-and.html

Hemlock is a tree, in my experience. The plant Tolkien names in the Tinuviel poem is known around here as "poison hemlock", but is not seen in the wild. I had never, ever -- until the incredible 3-hour discussion of the poem -- even realized that Tolkien and I were not thinking of the same plant.

It was only once I actually thought about "hemlock umbels" -- which I would, naturally, do when thinking so much about the poem -- that I realized: hemlock trees do NOT have umbels! Not even close! And then for quite some time I was doubting not my own interpretation, but Tolkien's mastery of botany instead. Maybe he thought that hemlock trees had some sort of umbel form, or maybe he was confused about the meaning of the word "umbel" or ... that was, of course, stupid of me. Tolkien had it all right: I was the confused one. As usual.

I concur with the blogger's final words:

"I wonder, of course, how many other literary images are wrong in my mind because I didn’t know the same plants the author did."

It is telling that the link above is the second hit on google for the query "hemlock umbels". This confusion is apparently very common indeed.
 
Naismith's trees do indeed look like hemlocks to me. So do a few other paintings I've seen.

I did a google image search, and found very few pictures of Beren and Luthien with any umbels in them at all. There are a couple. But these umbels, though fair enough, are not at all tall: I don't think they're hemlock umbels because they are only knee-high in one case, and just ankle-high in another! It might be simply that it's hard to paint Tinuviel if she's all hidden by the flowers. Same reason for why so few of the paintings show a night scene, as is clearly meant in the poem.

I wonder how many people even know (or care) what an umbel is? I only know because I've studied a bit of botany. It's not a very common word (though it gets 2 million hits on google).
 
Hmm, as I read it, that line describes the glade, not the trees...

The leaves were long, the grass was green
The hemlock-umbels tall and fair
And in the glade a light was seen,
Of stars in shadow shimmering.
Tinúviel was dancing there
To music of a pipe unseen,
And light of stars was in her hair,
And in her raiment glimmering."

(Tolkien The Fellowship of the Ring p. 204)​

Tolkien doesn't say that Tinúviel was dancing beneath the umbels; just that there were some hemlock-umbels that were tall and fair. The second line seems to be a parallel construction to the first line about the long leaves and green grass, and obviously she was not dancing beneath the grass.
 
I never considered that Tolkien was referring to the hemlock tree, because it's not a species native to Britain.
When I first read LotR I had little knowledge of what species were native to where, and made what connections I could based on what local knowledge I had, and the only thing called "hemlock" here was the tree, Eastern Hemlock, Tsuga canadensis. I'd heard, of course, of Socrates and the poison hemlock root, but had no idea that it was a different plant entirely! I do not think I knew the word "umbel" at all until much later, when I studied botany, and rather than clearing things up for me, that just confused me until much, much later. It was only the Mythgard course that made me think about and finally realize where my confusion lay.

When you search google for "eastern hemlock" one of the "people also ask..." links is "Is the eastern hemlock poisonous?" The answer, of course, is "no".

Many umbelliferae are poisonous. And many are edible, including carrots, cilantro, and parsley. And yes, they can be difficult to tell apart! In my area we have some very dangerous plants, including giant hogweed, Heracleum mantegazzianum. Just touching it can raise horrible welts: it's worse than poison ivy, though thankfully less common in my area. Still, I studiously avoid any large umbel-bearing plants, just in case.
 
:eek: Giant hogweed is definitely an introduced species in Britain. Years ago, my husband was involved in a project to eradicate it in ecologically sensitive parts of the region where we live. It is invasive and, as you say, dangerous.
 
Back
Top