POISONOUS PLANTS 265 



bright red blossoms of the latter when in bloom furnish 

 a certain means of identification. The plant is generally 

 dangerous when young and tender, and cattle seldom 

 touch it after it has reached its blossoming time. Sheep 

 have been fed the dried as well as green leaves for 

 several days with no apparent ill effects. Extracts from 

 the dried leaves, however, proved fatal. So far as is 

 known no definite feeding experiments have been made 

 with cattle, but the Department of Agriculture is now 

 planning a careful study of this plant which when com- 

 pleted will give some more definite information about it. 



The larkspur may be dug up with little trouble, and 

 if it is not widely distributed or very numerous it could 

 be eventually eliminated from a range by using the 

 ordinary weeding tools sold for that purpose. Where 

 it exists in large patches it is thought possible to choke 

 it out with certain grasses like orchard and brome grass. 

 No very satisfactory experiments have yet been made 

 along these lines, however. 



Lupines (Lupinus). The extent of the country over 

 which this plant is found makes it one of the most 

 injurious of all the poisonous plants. Practically it 

 grows all over the West and at all elevations. Eaten 

 at certain times and under certain conditions it is ex- 

 tremely injurious to horses, cattle and sheep. The com- 

 mon name among stockmen is wild pea, blue pea, blue 

 bean and peavine. It is often mistaken for a variety 

 of loco, especially the silvery loco (Aragallus splen- 

 dens), but the leaves offer an easy means of identifica- 

 tion. The leaf of the lupine is compound and is 

 attached to the end of the stem, while the leaf of loco is 

 long and feathery with the parts attached to the stem 

 along each side of it. (See frontispiece.) 



