W53 



WESTERN WATERHEMLOCK 



Cicu'ta occidenta'lis 



Flowers small, white, 5-parted, 

 on short stalks, grouped in small 

 umbrella-shaped clusters (um- 

 bellets) each with a basal whorl 

 (involucel) of several slender 

 bractlets; umbellets on long 

 stalks (rays) clustered at end of 

 stem in a compound umbel, 

 whose base often has a few 

 bracts (involucre) 



Leaves hairless, twice divided 

 (bipinnately compound); stalks 

 of lower ones enlarged and 

 sheathing the stem 



Leaflets narrowly to broadly 

 lance-shaped, up to about 4 in. 

 long; margins with coarse teeth 

 rather far apart 



Stem hairless, stout, hollow, 

 ridged, branching above, up to 

 6 ft. high 



"Seeds" hairless, the 2 parts 

 (mericarps) joined, separating 

 when ripe, oblong to globe- 

 shaped, small (about Kin- long), 

 strongly ribbed; ribs corky, flat, 

 with side ones largest; each 

 "seed" tipped by a short stalk 

 (style) with a low conical base 

 (stylopodium) surrounded by 5 

 persistent teeth 



Rootstock underground, short, 

 stout, vertical, with numerous 

 horizontal chambers inside, and 

 usually with a cluster of tuber- 

 ous prolongations attached 



Roots rather few, shallow, 

 fibrous 



