296 COMMON WEEDS 



pain, loss of muscular power, and rapid, feeble pulse." 

 The plant should be avoided as food in any form by 

 man or animals, and where there is danger of its being 

 taken in this way it should be eradicated by hand 

 pulling as fast as it appears, and by digging up the 

 roots. 



Cowbane or Water Hemlock (Cicuta virosa L.) is a 

 weed which grows in damp, watery places, as by the 

 edges of ponds, ditches, rivers, &c., from the southern 

 counties as far north as Dumbarton and Forfar, and 

 in Mid and North Ireland. It is a perennial plant of 

 2 to 4 feet in height, with large compound leaves, 

 the serrated segments of which are long and narrow ; 

 the white flowers are produced in July to August, and 

 occur in umbels 3 to 5 inches in diameter. The stem 

 is stout and furrowed, and the rootstock short, fleshy, 

 and hollow. It has been mistaken by man for celery 

 or parsnip with fatal results. Animals appear very 

 seldom to touch this plant, and sheep and goats are 

 said to be but little inconvenienced by it. Henslow 

 remarks that " It is regarded as being the most poison- 

 ous of the Umbellifers." The fleshy rootstock is the 

 most toxic part of the plant, the poisonous principle 

 probably being the same as in Hemlock. 



Water Dropwort (CEnanthe crocata L.), also some- 

 times termed Water Hemlock, is a poisonous plant 

 which is much more frequently the cause of harm to 

 live stock than C. virosa. It is a weed of 2 to 5 feet 

 high, which occurs in marshes, ditches, and other wet 

 places from Argyll and Elgin southwards. The leaves 

 are large and compound, with much divided leaflets. 

 The flowers are white, and appear about July. The 

 stem is grooved, hollow, and branched, while the root 

 fibres are fleshy and spindle-shaped. This plant, 

 illustrated in Fig. 82, is a perennial. All parts are 



