corky; oil tubes 1 to 3 in the intervals and 2 to 6 on the commissure, the seed face 

 plane; prominent group of strengthening cells in the apex of each rib. Sium cicu- 

 taefoliuin Schrank. 



In swamps and marshes and other wet places in Okla. (Comanche Co.), s.-cen. 

 Tex. and Ariz. (Coconino Co.), May-Sept.; from Nfld., s. to. S.C, w. to B.C. 

 and Calif. 



This species, which superficially resembles the deadly poisonous Cicuta macu- 

 lata. may be distinguished from that species by its simply pinnate leaves and cor- 

 rugated stems. The primary lateral veins also are directed to the teeth instead of 

 the sinuses. 



18. Cicuta L. Water-hemlock 



Plants stout or slender, erect, caulescent, branching, herbaceous, perennial from 

 a tuberous base bearing fibrous to fleshy-tuberous roots; leaves 1- to 3-pinnate or 

 ternate-pinnate, the leaflets serrate to incised; primary lateral veins of leaflets 

 usualh directed toward sinuses rather than teeth of the leaflets; inflorescence of 

 compound umbels, the peduncles terminal and lateral, exceeding the leaves; invo- 

 lucre usually lacking; involucel of several narrow bractlets or rarely lacking; rays 

 numerous, slender, spreading-ascending, the slender pedicels spreading; flowers 

 white or greenish, the calyx teeth evident, the stylopodium depressed or low-conic; 

 carpophore divided to the base, deciduous; fruit oval or ovoid to orbicular or 

 ellipsoid, compressed laterally and constricted at the commissure or not constricted, 

 the usually prominent ribs obtuse and corky; oil tubes solitary in the intervals and 

 2 on the commissure, the seed face plane to slightly concave. 



A circumboreal genus of about 8 species, one Eurasian, the others American. 

 These plants, abundant in wet places, are notable for being virulently poisonous to 

 both man and animals. Although all parts of the plant of these species are poison- 

 ous, the roots and rootstocks are especially so, and the spotted cowbane (C. macu- 

 lata) is considered to be the most violently poisonous of any of the species in this 

 genus. If a strong emetic followed by a purgative medicine is given to anyone 

 known to have eaten any of the plant, recovery is very possible. The seeds of these 

 plants are eaten by wildfowl without any apparent harmful effects. 



1. Fruit not constricted at the commissure; lateral ribs much broader than the 

 dorsals in surface display 1. C. maculata. 



1. Fruit constricted at the commissure; lateral ribs about equaling the dorsals in 



surface display (2) 



2(1). Oil tubes large; seed oily, evidently channeled under the oil tubes 



2. C mexicana. 



2. Oil tubes small; seed less oily, terete or only slightly sulcate under the oil tubes 



3. C. Douglasii. 



1. Cicuta maculata L. Spotted cowbane, beaver-poison. Fig. 587. 



Plant stout, from a usually erect tuberous base bearing fleshy or fleshy-tuberous 

 roots as well as often some fibrous roots above (all of which are deadly poisonous 

 to man and animals), 6-18 dm. high; leaves ovate, to 3 dm. long and 26 cm. wide, 

 2- to 3-pinnate; leaflets lanceolate, acute to acuminate, 2-12 cm. long, 5-30 mm. 

 wide, sharply and coarsely serrate or incised; peduncles 2-10 cm. long; involucre 

 of a few narrow bracts or lacking; involucel of several linear to lanceolate acute to 

 acuminate scarious-margined bractlets, 2-5 mm. long, entire or denticulate, shorter 

 than the flowers; rays unequal to subequal. 1.5-6 cm. long; pedicels 3-10 mm. long; 

 fruit oval to orbicular, 2-4 mm. long. 2-3 mm. broad, not constricted at the com- 

 missure, the ribs low and corky, about as broad as the usually reddish-brown inter- 

 vals, the lateral ribs of the two carpels closely contiguous and forming a broad flat 



1237 



