and Montana. The common and specific names refer to the Columbia 

 River, the first botanical description of this species resulting from a 

 plant collected on the Columbia River near Walla Walla, Wash., 

 about 1834. Columbia monkshood prefers moist, shady sites along 

 streams and around springs in the foothills and mountains at eleva- 

 tions of from approximately 1,000 to 12,000 feet, but it is most fre- 

 quent at the higher elevations. It grows in a great variety of weed, 

 grass, and timber types, is common in aspen and among willows, and 

 occurs frequently in moist mountain meadows. This plant is seldom, 

 if ever, the dominant species in areas it inhabits, though it not in- 

 frequently grows in small, dens patches. It flourishes in deep, 

 moist, sandy or clayey loams, especially if rich in humus. 



Columbia monkshood, while recognized as potentially poisonous to 

 cattle, 1 is very rarely, if ever, consumed by such animals in sufficient 

 quantities under range conditions to cause losses. The use of this 

 species varies considerably in different parts of the West. In Cali- 

 fornia, the Southwest, the Intermountain Region, and Idaho, cattle 

 seldom touch it, and sheep usually either ignore it or merely pick off 

 some of the leaves and tops. In the northern Rocky Mountains, from 

 Montana to Colorado, its utilization seems to be greater, sometimes 

 being considered of fair palatability for cattle and fairly good for 

 sheep. The greatest range use of the species ordinarily occurs on 

 summer ranges of the Northwest where sheep frequently utilize from 

 70 to 80 percent of the herbage, and cattle between about 30 and 

 60 percent. From an investigation conducted by Beath 2 it would 

 appear that Columbia monkshood is not a highly toxic species and 

 would not make a satisfactory substitute for the Old World A. 

 napellus as a source of the important drug, aconite. Beath found 

 A. coluwibianwni less than 0.5 percent as active as A. napellus. 



Columbia monkshood is an erect, stout, single-stemmed plant, from 

 2 to occasionally 6 feet in height, the stem being solid or pithy 

 within. This species has not as yet come into general use as an orna- 

 mental, although it is fully as handsome as a number of its sister 

 species commonly grown for horticultural purposes. 



The distinctive hooded flowers of all the monkshoods facilitate easy recog- 

 nition. When not in flower, however, they are very likely to be confused with 

 the tall larkspurs (Delphinium spp.), the leaves in many instances being 

 almost identical ; the same holds true in the case of the wild geraniums, or 

 cranesbills (Geranium spp.). Columbia monkshood is frequently associated 

 with tall larkspurs, which are responsible for heavy cattle losses in the West. 

 In some localities, such as certain parts of Yellowstone Park, Columbia monks- 

 hood grows in great abundance whereas larkspurs are comparatively rare ; 

 in other places, such as the region between Yellowstone Lake and the Grand 

 Canyon, the larkspurs are very abundant and Columbia monkshood is infre- 

 quent. 1 Inasmuch as the tall larkspurs are very poisonous, especially in the 

 spring and fall, whereas Columbia monkshood, though possessing poisonous 

 properties, seems to be negligible as a cause of range cattle losses, it is of great 

 importance to learn to distinguish these plants in the field. Methods of recog- 

 nizing these genera are discussed under the generic notes. 



1 Marsh, C. D. STOCK-POISONING PLANTS OF THE RANGE. U. S. Dept. Agr. Bull. 1245, 

 rev., 75 pp., illus. 1929. Supersedes Bull. 575. 



2 Beath, O. A. EXTRACTS OP ACONITUM COLUMBIANUM. Jour. Amer. Phann. Assoc. 15: 

 265-266. 1926. 



