WATER HEMLOCK 



Cicuta maculata L. 



Summer WIkmi iniilsuniinor conios with the full force of July, 



Swamps, ponds iind ilic iii(ii>t plairs <,a'o\v loss moist and the dry 



})l;uos hiiki' ill llio sun, the water hemlock blooms 

 aloii<i: tl\e grassy, wet edges of ponds and swanqis. 



Water hemlock r(\>;embles that ancient plant, the poison hemlock, 

 which fjrows in Ainciica as well as in Europe. In Cirfvce long agi) ihc 

 juice from the root of this plant wa.s extracted and used as a deadly 

 poi.son for executions of people of honor. It was the hemlock derived 

 from the ]inisonous root of this ])lant which was iriven to Socrates in the 

 vear ;?nn \\.(\ 



The root of water hemlock also is poi.sonous. hut not as deadly as 

 its kin, Conium. whose hitter potion the philosopher drank. Water hem- 

 lock grows about three to four feet tall ajid is a bright dark giu^'n with 

 slender branching steins. The leaves are abundant; it is a bushy plant. 

 The leaves are compound and finely saw-toothed, and as in other members 

 of the Parsnip family, the llower umbels are borne at the tips of the leafy 

 stems. The llowers are white, tiny, in separate heads in the spreading 

 mnble. and are slightly fragrant. It has a wide range. According to (iray. 

 it is found from Newfoundland to Virginia, and west across the conti- 

 nent to the Mississippi. It has .-several other names, a point which i.s proof 

 that the plant is connnon and widely known. Reaver jioison is one of 

 its names, or nmsipuisb root, or spotted cowbane. Apparently its poison- 

 ous root is dajigerous to the incautious muskrat* or beavers which dig 

 them out. 



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