PLATE 20. 



SPOTTED COWBANE, Ckula maculata, L. 



Other English names : Cowbane, Water Parsnip, "Water Hemlock, Poi- 

 son Parsnip, Musquash Boot, Beaver Poison. 



Other Latin name: Cicuta virosa, L., var. maculata, Coult & Rose. 



Native. Perennial. Stems stout, erect, hollow and jointed, widely 

 branching, three to six feet high, quite smooth, pale green, dotted and 

 streaked with purple. Leaves compound, twice or three times divided, clasp- 

 ing by an expanded base, the lower on long petioles, the upper sessile. The 

 leaflets lanceolate, deeply toothed. Flowers small, white, in compound um- 

 bels, one to four inches across; the rays of the many-flowered umbellets un- 

 equal, from one to two inches long. Fruit [Plate 55, fig. 52 — natural size 

 and enlarged 4 times] smooth, ovate, compressed laterally, tV of an inch 

 long, separating into two boat-shaped ribbed seeds. When cut acros3, these 

 seeds show four oil tubes between the ribs and two on the flat side. Root, 

 a bundle of a few fleshy spindle-shaped tubers, like small parsnips, at the 

 base of the stem. 



Time of Flowering : July to August ; seeds ripe August to September. 



Propagation : Copiously by seeds and by offsets from the crown of the 

 root at the base of the old stem. 



Occurrence : In low land along waterways, probably right across the 

 Dominion. 



Injury : Roots intensely poisonous to stock, particularly cattle, which 

 pull them out when grazing in spring and eat them freely. When first turned 

 out, the animals find few green plants to eat, and in browsing over the wet 

 lands where these Water Parsnips grow they find the new green shoots, and 

 when eating these pull out the roots. This is easily done owing to there 

 being few root fibres. The roots not only look like small parsnip roots, but 

 like them have a strong aromatic odour, which seems to make them very 

 attractive to stock. It is claimed that the flowering plants when cut in hay 

 may be eaten by animals without any ill effects, but that the ripe plants bear- 

 ing seeds are dangerous. The whole plant, however, contains some of the 

 poisonous principle, although it is true that this is most abundant in the roots 

 and the seeds. Consequently no hay containing the Spotted Cowbane, or 

 other Water Parsnips (also called Water Hemlocks), should be fed. 



This plant, and in the West probably two or three other allied species 

 closely resembling it (the Oregon Water Hemlock, Cicuta vagans, Greene, 

 the Purple-Stemmed Water Hemlock, Cicuta Douglasii, C. & R., and the 

 Wyoming Water Hemlock, Cicuta Occident alis. Greene), are the cause of 

 uearly all the deaths of cattle reported in spring; aiid, unfortunately, in cases 

 where much of the plant has been eaten no remedies can be applied. The 

 means generally adopted on the plains in mild cases, when these are discovered 

 in time, is fo administer two or three daily doses of lard or bacon grease; 

 but it is seldom that anything can be done on account of the intense virul- 

 ence and quick action of the poison. A piece of root of the Oregon Water 

 Hemlock, about the size of a walnut, is stated by Prof. HedricK to be enough 

 to kill a cow in about fifteen minutes. 



Remedy : From the nature of the localities where Water Parsnips grow, 

 hand-pulling is the best treatment for this dangerous weed. This is easily 



46 



