1 82 POISONOUS PLANTS 



Of herbs, shrubs and trees that affect grazing 

 cattle more or less, there are twelve species, all of 

 them of conspicuous growth. Among these are 

 the Dwarf, Purple and Wyoming Larkspurs of the 

 middle and extreme west, the first wearing blue or 

 white flowers in Spring, the second beautiful deep 

 blue blossoms in Summer, and the last, particularly 

 common in the Montana grazing country, showing 

 a single wand of intensely blue flowers, from April 

 to July, according to location. 



The injury done to stock by the Woolly and 

 Stemless Loco Weeds of the Great Plains has 

 caused immense bounties to be paid for their ex- 

 termination. Through these plants horses, more 

 frequently than range cattle, suffer from what is 

 apparently a slow wasting disease, ending in death, 

 as if by starvation. A similar poison is contained in 

 the closely related Rattlebox, a rough, hairy herb of 

 the Pea Family, whose small yellow flowers bloom 

 all Summer, followed by short, black pods in which 

 the seeds can be heard to rattle. The range of 

 the plant is westward, from the Atlantic seaboard, 

 and it is quite common in sandy and dry soil here 

 in Connecticut. 



The Heath tribe distributes a poison particularly 

 affecting the respiration, in Mountain Laurel, Small 



