Figure 1 shows the relatively small flower clusters, in proportion to the size 

 of Cicuta as compared with the larger flower clusters of Angelica; both bracts 

 and bractlets are usually absent from the flower clusters in Angelica, but bract- 

 lets are usually present in Cicuta,. The sweetroots (Osmorhiza spp.) have 

 slender, irregular, few-rayed flower clusters; they, as well as the entire plant, 

 emanate a sweet, aniselike odor. Incidentally, when once recognized, all three 

 genera can be separated by odor alone from Cicuta, which is the least pleasant. 

 tfphcnosciad'mm has ball-like, cottony flower heads in a regular umbel. 



Figure 2 illustrates the easily recognized character of the seedlike fruits of 

 these genera. Ciouta has small, ribbed, wingless, rounded, oval or oblong, 

 hairless fruits, up to about three-sixteenths of an inch long. Angelica fruits 

 are flattened, broad-winged, and average about three-sixteenths to one-fourth 

 of an inch long. The fruits of Sphenosciadium are hairy, ribbed below, and 

 winged above; those of Onmorhisa are unmistakable, being elongated, some- 

 what club-shaped, narrowly ribbed, hairless or bristly and often tipped with a 

 short beak. 



FIGURE 3. Leaves (diagrammatic) of water-hemlock as contrasted with those of the 

 harmless angelica, sweetroot, and woollyhead-parsnip. 



Figure 3 illustrates the general character of the leaves with the venation of 

 the leaflets shown in detail. Although attention has been called in various dia- 

 grams or discussions of the eastern spotted waterhemlock (C. macula' ta) and 

 of western waterhemlock to the termination of the primary veins in the 

 notches of the leaflets, Bombard 7 has recently reported that the difference in 

 the venation of the leaflets of Cicuta and Angelica is a practical aid in dis- 

 tinguishing these two genera, without the use of a hand lens, both afield and in 

 the herbarium. The venation is usually more prominent on the under side of 

 the leaflets in both genera. In Angelica, the primary veins, emanating from 

 the midrib of the leaflets, proceed toward the middle of the apex of the teeth, as 

 is usual in most toothed leaves. In the species of Cicuta, with one exception, 

 the primary veins are directed toward the notches between the teeth. When the 

 veins apparently end directly in the notches (e. g., spotted waterhemlock, west- 

 ern waterhemlock, etc.), this diagnostic character is easily recognized; in most 

 cases, however, it is the general trend of the veins (or their main forks) in the 

 direction of the notches which must be noted since, just before reaching the 

 notch, they deviate somewhat, or bend, sliding alongside a margin of the tooth 

 but scarcely proceeding directly toward the middle of the tooth itself. Cali- 

 fornia waterhemlock, the one exception, is a distinctive species, readily identi- 

 fiable by other means. This venation method of separating the poisonous 

 waterhemlocks from the nonpoisonous angelicas merits further testing, to 

 determine its usefulness and accuracy, by first examining the leaflets of these 

 plants when in flower or fruit and easily and accurately identifiable. 



7 Bomhard, M. L. LEAF VENATION AS A MEANS OF DISTINGUISHING CICUTA FROM 

 ANGELICA. Jour. Wash. Acad. Sci. 26 (3) : 102-107, illus. 1936. 



