(the Indian cure was a tea made from spruce tips.)
...

Better be careful not to get them confused with hemlock tips--or was it the fruit of the hemlock that did Socrates in?

Edit: Just in from Google:

Socrates' execution requires that he drink a cup of hemlock. Found in Europe and parts of Asia, hemlock is a poisonous herb that looks a great deal like parsley. You would not, however, want this "fool's-parsley" dressing the side of your dinner plate!

http://socrates.clarke.edu/aplg0503.htm

...never mind.