96 ORD. VI. Unmbeliate. CICUTA VIROSA. 
serratures white at the points. Flowers in large expanding umbels. 
Partial involucrum composed of several short bristle-shaped leaves. 
Calyx scarcely discernible. Florets all uniform, fertile, each 
consisting of five petals, which are ovate, turned inwards, of a 
greenish white. Filaments five, capillary, longer than the petals. 
Anthere simple, purplish. Styles two, at first close, afterwards: 
divaricating. Stigmata simple. Fruit egg-shaped, divisible into 
two seeds, which are ribbed and convex on one side, and flat on 
the other. 
It grows on the borders of pools and rivers, flowering in July and 
August. : 
This plant, which in its recent state has a smell! ieansibliniy that 
of smallage, and a taste somewhat like that of parsley, is well 
known to Be a powerful poison. Haller supposes it to be the Kaye» 
of Dioscorides; but whether it is the Athenian cicuta, or the plant 
of which the poisonous potion of the Greeks was composed, cannot 
possibly be ascertained. 
The root has a strong smelJ, and a warm somewhat aerid taste ; 
by distillation with water it yields a volatile matter, which ts of a 
narcotic quality, and ofa ful odour 
‘Tt appears from Bergius, that Waset-Henthack; in its dried state, 
may be taken-in a considerable quantity without producing any bad 
effect ;* but of the fatal effects of its root when fresh, numerous 
instances are recorded. Of two boys and six girls, who ate of this 
root for that of parsnep, the greater part died in a short time after- 
wards, those only escaping who were enabled to discharge it by 
vomiting. The symptoms it produced were intoxication, vertigo, 
* Recentem cicutam nunquam adhibui; pilulas vero e succo cicute expresso & 
inspissato, cum pulvere foliorum fermatas, dedi feeminw, cancro vero mammarum 
laboranti, incipiendo a parca dosi, sensim adscendendo ad dsacm. 3. quotidie; 
sed nullum effectum inde sensit, neque bonum, nec malum. Prescripsi famulo 
cuidam ct. saturat. herbe cicute siccate libr. 4, quod externe adhiberet, sed 
per esrorem intra binas horas totam ebibit laguaculam, absque ullo tamen inse- 
quente damno.” Vide J, c. 
