N. ORD.—-UMBELLIFERZ. 67 
GENUS.—CICUTA,* LINN. 
SEX. SYST.—PENTANDRIA DIGYNIA. 
CICUTA MACULATA. 
WATER HEMLOCK. 
SYN.—CICUTA MACULATA, LINN.; CICUTARIA MACULATA, LAM.; SIUM 
DOUGLASI, (?) D. C. 
COM. NAMES—AMERICAN WATER HEMLOCK, SNAKEWEED, BEAVER 
POISON, MUSQUASH ROOT, SPOTTED COWBANE, DEATH OF MAN, 
CHILDREN’S BANE; (FR.) CIQUE D’AMERIQUE; (GER.) AMERIKA- 
NISCHER WASSERSCHIERLING. 
A TINCTURE OF THE FRESH ROOTS OF CICUTA MACULATA, LINN. 
Description.—This poisonous marsh perennial attains a growth of from 3 to 
6 feet. Root a fascicle of several oblong, thick and fleshy tubers. Svem stout and 
smooth, fistulate, streaked with purple (ot maculate), or when growing in open 
places deep purple, and in shady situations wholly green. Leaves bi-ternately 
compound, the lower on long petioles; /ea/lets oblong-lanceolate, pointed, and 
sometimes lobed; margins mucronately coarse-serrate, the veins ending in the 
notches. Jnflorescence in long peduncled, axillary umbels ; zzvolucre few-leaved 
or wanting ; zzvolucels 5 to 6 leaved ; leaflets linear; flowers white. Calyx minutely 
s-toothed; /eeth acute. Petals obcordate, with an inflexed, pointed tip. /ruz¢ 
aromatic, almost globular, geminate, and a little contracted at the sides. Carpets 
with 5 strong, flattish ribs, the lateral ones marginal; vztte large, single in the 
intervals, double in the commissure ; seeds terete. Read description of the order 
under Eryngium, 62. 
History and Habitat.—The Water Hemlock is indigenous to the United 
States from Florida and Mississippi northward, where it grows in wet places, and 
flowers in June and July, 
Cicuta had, until the publication of Dr. Bigelow’s work,t been considered 
more as a poison than a drug, a few practitioners only using very small doses 
as a substitute for conium, and some of the laity, little knowing its toxic proper- 
ties, as a gargle in sore throat. Rafinesque claims that its roots were eaten by 
such Indjans as were tired of life and desired a speedy demise. Later the pow- 
dered leaves were employed to a limited extent to alleviate the pain of scirrhus 
cancers. Cicuta plays no part in any system of medicine except the homceopathic. 
in reference to the hollow stems of this genus, the name Cicuta designating the hollow 
* The ancient Latin name, 
joints of reeds from which pipes were made. 
t+ Am. Med. Bot., Boston, 1817. 
