> REPORT OF THE BOTAXIST. 75 



The introduction of the Canada thistle may well be dreaded in any 



agricultural district. 



From Inyo County, California, a correspondent writes: 



Our cattle often eat something that is poisonous, and I am inclined to tliink that 



the plant I send herewith is that which poisoned them. The cattle swell up and 



die soon after eating the poison. 



The plant sent was a species of Cymopterus, of low growth, akin 

 to what is called poison parsley, but of its properties we know little. 

 The same kind is frequently sent from Idaho and Wyoming, with 

 the same comijlaint of its poisonous character. It makes its appear- 

 ance early in the spring, before grass has become plentiful, and cattle 

 eat it from hunger and not from choice. It is so abundant that its 

 extermination would be difficult. If cattle were well provided with 

 hay or fodder they probably would not touch it. Probably it joro- 

 duces ho veil, like the effect of over-feeding on green clover. 



From Bakersfield, Cal., comes the following respecting a jjoisonous 

 plant known there as "loco": 



It prevails quite abundantly over an extent of 150 square miles in this valley, and, 

 I am informed, is found in other valleys of the State, and also in Arizona. This year 

 the army- worm and a minute insect, which destroys the seeds, have killed a great 

 deal of it; but, if not molested, it will soon flourish to as gi'eat an extent as ever. 

 I think very few, if any, animals eat the loco at fu-st from choice; but, as it resists 

 the drought until other food is scarce, they are at first starved to it, and, after eat- 

 ing it a short time appear to prefer it to anythmg else. Cows are poisoned by it as 

 well as horses, but it takes more of it to affect them. It is also said to poison sheep. 

 As I have seen its action on the horse, the first syjnptom of the poisoning is halluci- 

 nation. When led or ridden up to some little obstiaiction, such as a rail or bar, 

 lymg in the road, he stops short, and, if ui-ged, leaps as though it were 4 feet high. 

 Next he is seized with fits of mania, in which he is quite uncontrollable, and some- 

 times dangerous. He rears, sometimes even falling backward, runs or gives several 

 leaps forward, and generally falls. His eyes are rolled upward until only the white 

 can be seen, which is strongly injected, and, as he sees nothing, he is as apt to leap 

 against a wall or a man as m any other direction. Anything that excites him ap- 

 pears to induce the fits, which I think are more apt to occur when crossing water 

 than elsewhere, and the animal sometimes falls so exhausted as to drown in water 

 not over 2 feet deep. He loses flesh from the first, and sometimes presents the ap- 

 pearance of a walking skeleton. In the next and last stage he only goes from the 

 loco to water and back; his gait is feeble and uncertain; his eyes are sunken, and 

 have a flat, glassy look, and his coat is rough and lusterless. In genei-al, the animal 

 appears to perish from starvation and constant excitement of the nervous system, 

 but sometimes appears to suffer acute pain, causing him to expend his strength in 

 running wildly from place to place, pawing and rolling, until he falls and dies in a 

 few minutes. 



We invite further information from those acquainted with the 

 plant and its poisonous qualities. 



The plants sent were those oi Astragalus lentiginosus, locally called 

 " rattle-weed "_ and "loco." It belongs to the order Leguminosoi, and 

 is somewhat similar to lucern in appearance, and produces bladdery 

 pods, in which the seeds rattle when ripe. Hence the name "rattle- 

 weed." 



In Colorado and New Mexico the same disease among horses and 

 cattle is produced by the Astragalus mollissimus and other allied 

 plants. The losses of stock from the eating of these plants has been 

 very great. 



From Wellborn, Fla. : 



Inclosed I send you, for identification, a forage plant called here "beggar- weed." 

 It is a nuisance in our cotton fields, yet all our planters are anxious to get it into 

 their fields. It grows from 1 to 6 or 8 feet high. All kinds of stock eat it with greedi- 

 ness and fatten on it, and can work daily with nothing else. It has large, spread- 

 ing roots, and I think it would enrich the ground as much as clover if plowed under. 

 Persons sometimes go 20 miles to strip the seed to get a start. 



