POISONOUS PLANTS 271 



owing to the paralysis of the muscles of the throat, 

 making swallowing extremely hard, it is generally diffi- 

 cult to administer remedies. 



Sneeze Weed (Helenium montanum H. autumnale). 

 A smooth branching perennial, growing from eight 

 inches to three feet high, sneeze weed has long lance- 

 shaped leaves, with yellow flowers, and is generally 

 classed by stockman as a species of sunflower. It is only 

 dangerous where other feed is not available, hence is 

 seldom eaten by animals unless they are extremely hun- 

 gry. So far as is known, no domestic animals excepting 

 sheep have ever been seriously affected by sneeze weed. 

 The plant is found all over the West, mainly in the 

 higher mountain regions. Old abandoned fields and 

 pastures heavily overgrazed are generally full of it in 

 some places to the complete exclusion of all other kinds 

 of plants. 



The water contained in stock-tanks and reservoirs 

 which have large amounts of sneeze weed in their vicin- 

 ity has been known to poison sheep, and in two instances 

 a number of men camped on small tanks or ponds of 

 rain water otherwise pure but covered by the pollen 

 from this plant were all made dangerously sick from 

 using the water. 



Choke Cherry (Prunus demissa). This is the ordinary 

 choke cherry of the West. It is not a dangerous plant, 

 excepting when animals like sheep are driven for long 

 distances over a range with little forage on it, and 

 then reach thickets of the cherry. The hungry animals 

 eagerly browse on the leaves and twigs which, taken 

 into the empty stomach, develop prussic acid in sufficient 

 amounts to kill them. 



Heavy losses of sheep have occurred in Utah and 



