COMPOSITAE 
COMPOSITE FAMILY 
WHITE SNAKEROOT 
Eupatorium urticaefolium Reichard 
White Snakeroot is the plant that causes “‘milk sickness.” 
When cows eat this plant they become ill and produce poison- 
ous milk which will sicken or kill persons who drink it. Horses 
and other animals have 
also suffered illness or 
death from eating this 
plant. It is often con- 
fused with some of 
the close relatives de- 
scribed on preceding 
pages, but it should be 
readily identified by its 
flowers and leaves. 
The White Snakeroot 
usually grows in open 
woods or on partly 
wooded slopes and banks 
from New Brunswick to 
Nebraska, south to Flor- 
ida and Louisiana. It 
grows I-4 feet high and 
is commonly smooth, but 
the usually much 
branched stem is occa- 
sionally more or less cov- 
ered with short soft hairs. 
The 3-nerved and veiny 
leaves are broadly ovate, 
3-6 inches long, acumi- 
nate at the apex, and 
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coarsely and rather sharply toothed; all are opposite and thin 
and all except the very small ones at the top are petioled. 
The blooming season is July to late autumn. The inflorescence 
is loose and consists of many heads with 10-30 tubular and pure 
white flowers in each. The receptacle is flat. The bracts of the 
involucre are narrow, usually about the same length and are 
ranged in I row, but sometimes a few on the outside are shorter. 
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