POISONOUS PARTS OF PLANT 267 



miles. There are only three species in the Atlantic States, and 

 these are neither so widely distributed nor so abundant as in the 

 West, where about twenty-five species are represented (Fig. 91, 

 colored plate) . The species do not usually occur in cultivated soil 

 or in swamps, nor often on river fiats. Most of them prefer 

 the slopes of hills, or portions of mountain ranges at moderate 

 elevations. Most lupines are fairly good forage plants if not 

 eaten at the poisonous stage of their growth. Where large tracts 

 of dense stands occur the plants are often cut for hay. 



Losses of Stock and Animals Poisoned. — Experiments in- 

 dicate that practically all animals are more or less susceptible 

 to the toxic substances contained in lupine. Under range con- 

 ditions, however, lupine may be regarded as almost exclusively 

 a sheep poison, although occasionally horses succumb to the 

 plant. A few cases of lupine poisoning of range cattle have been 

 reported, but they do not appear to be well authenticated. 

 Many heavy losses of sheep from this cause during late summer 

 and fall are on record. One report states that 150 sheep out of 

 200 died from lupine poisoning. These animals were very 

 hungry and ate the plant when the pods were developed, but the 

 seeds not entirely ripe. 



Lupine hay, or hay that contained as high as 50 per cent of 

 lupine, cut when the plant was in seed, has caused severe losses. 

 In the winter of 1898-99 over 3,600 sheep died in Montana from 

 this cause; in another band 90 out of 150 sheep died from eating 

 hay which had been cut during the latter half of July; and in 

 still another band of 2,500 sheep 900 died within 48 hours after 

 eating lupine hay. Sheep have often been poisoned by lupine 

 after snowstorms, when it is the only plant remaining above the 

 snow. Out of one band of 2,500 sheep, 1,150 died from eating 

 lupine under these circumstances.^ 



Poisonous Parts of Plant. — The fruit of lupines is frequently 

 the cause of fatal sheep poisoning. Post-mortem examinations 

 of the stomachs of poisoned sheep which have been found to 

 contain large quantities of the pods and seeds of lupine, prove 



^ Chesnut, V. K., and Wilcox, E. V., "The Stock-Poisoning Plants of 

 Montana." U. S. Dept. of Agr., Div. of Bot, Bui. 26, p. 104, 1901. 



