9 



alone are examined. However, they may all be distinguished easily if 

 the underground parts are dug. Only a few of the others have an 

 underground stem with cross-partitions ; and in these it is not thick and 

 fleshy and has no fleshy roots like those of the poison parsnip, and no 

 cicutoxin appears when the underground stem is cut. 



The common field parsnip has a fleshy root; but it lacks the open 

 spaces, the cross-partitions, and the yellow cicutoxin. Both the field 

 parsnip and the poison parsnip have a peculiar odor which is lacking 

 in other plants of much the same appearance. 



The stems and leaves of the poison parsnip are coarse, the flower is 

 white, and the whole plant has a strong unpleasant odor when crushed. 

 On the whole, it is easy to tell the roots of the poison parsnip from any 

 of the others by : (1) the cross-partitions of the rootstock ; (2) the rank 

 parsnip smell; (3) the oily yellow drops of deadly cicutoxin which 

 ooze out when the rootstock is cut. If a root shows all three of these 



Figure 5. Leaves of Water Parsnip (on left) and Water Hemlock, 

 or Poison Parsnip. The principal difference appears to be in 

 the fact that the leaflets of water parsnip, a harmless plant, 

 grow singly, while those of water hemlock grow in little groups 

 of two or three each. 



characters, one may be sure that it is the root of the poison parsnip 

 (water hemlock) . 



In Nevada many related plants belonging to the parsnip family 

 grow in dry soil, but the poison parsnip is never found except in wet 

 places. There is another plant called water parsnip (Sium) which 

 grows in similar places and is often associated with the water hemlock. 

 It can be distinguished by the less divided leaf, shown in Figure 5. 



Where It Grows. 



The poison parsnip or water hemlock grows in wet, marshy soil or in 

 shallow water. It is common along streams and around ponds, and in 

 or along ditches. In Nevada it is most commonly found along the 

 edges of irrigation ditches and scattered over wet meadows and 

 pastures. It does not usually occur throughout such pastures and 

 meadows, but is limited to very wet areas and to the ditch banks. 



