Hemlock
(1.) Heb. rosh (Hos 10:4; rendered “gall” in Deut 29:18; Deut 32:32; Ps 69:21; Jer 9:15; Jer 23:15; “poison,” Job 20:16; “venom,” Deut 32:33). “Rosh is the name of some poisonous plant which grows quickly and luxuriantly; of a bitter taste, and therefore coupled with wormwood (Deut 29:18; Lam 3:19). Hence it would seem to be not the hemlock cicuta, nor the colocynth or wild gourd, nor lolium darnel, but the poppy so called from its heads” (Gesenius, Lex.).
(2.) Heb. la’anah, generally rendered “wormwood” (q.v.), Deut 29:18, Text 17; Prov 5:4; Jer 9:15; Jer 23:15. Once it is rendered “hemlock” (Amos 6:12; R.V., “wormwood”). This Hebrew word is from a root meaning “to curse,” hence the accursed.
From Easton’s Bible Dictionary (1897), by Matthew George Easton.
