VARIOUS FARM PRODUCTS 577 



and are very characteristic of the plant. It grows commonly in 

 swamps and damp soil, throughout the Atlantic States, westward to 

 Louisiana, Iowa, and Minnesota; much less commonly northwest- 

 ward through Nebraska to the Rocky Mountains, and in New 

 Mexico. This is one of the most poisonous native plants in the 

 United States, being rapidly fatal to both man and animals. The 

 roots are especially dangerous, because the taste being aromatic 

 and to some people suggesting that of horse radish, parsnips, arti- 

 chokes, or sweet cicely, is apt to lead children to eat them when they 

 are found forced out of the soil by washing, freezing, or other 

 causes in early spring. Cattle sometimes eat the tubers, and in 

 marshes they are poisoned by drinking water contaminated by the 

 juice of roots which have been crushed by being trampled upon. 

 No estimate can be made of the amount of damage done to live stock, 

 but it is very considerable. The human victims average several per 

 annum. The prominent symptoms are vomiting, colicky pains, stag- 

 gering, unconsciousness, and frightful convulsions, ending in death. 



Oregon Water Hemlock (Cicuta vagans). A smooth per- 

 ennial, with erect or straggling glaucous stems 3 to 6 feet hi^h, 

 compound leaves, which spring directly from the ground, white 

 flowers, blooming in July and August, and a fleshy root, which has 

 a muskrat-like odor, and which consists of two very distinct and 

 characteristic parts. The more conspicuous of these is the vertical 

 rootstock, which is from 1 to 6 inches long by 1 or 2 thick, and is 

 curiously divided into numerous chambers by horizontal parti- 

 tions. This rootstock furnishes the bulk of the poison. The other 

 portion of the root consists of solid, fleshy fibers, which run along 

 on or just under the surface of the soil, and send off numerous root- 

 lets from beneath. The rootstalk rots or dwindles away almost 

 entirely before the seeds mature, but fresh ones are formed from it 

 for the next season's growth. The plant grows in wet or marshy 

 places, and ranges from British Columbia and Idaho southward to 

 northeastern California, and perhaps to the southern Sierra Nevada. 

 Cases of cattle poisoning have been reported from Victoria, British 

 Columbia; Colby, Wash.; from various parts of Oregon, and from 

 northern California. More than one hundred cattle it has been 

 estimated are killed by it every year in Oregon. A piece of the 

 winter rootstock the size of a walnut was found to be fatal to a cow. 

 A piece the size of a marble is looked upon as dangerous to man. 

 Human cases are not numerous, but a few have been reported in 

 which individuals nibbled at the root through curiosity. "VVhen 

 these plants occupy large areas, the only safeguard for cattle is to 

 keep them on other pastures, especially when they are hungry. The 

 plants may be destroyed by hand pulling when they occur in small 

 quantities near dwellings or playgrounds. 



Poison Hemlock (Conium maculatum) . Hemlock ; wild hem- 

 lock; spotted parsley; stinkweed; herb bennet; poison root: poison 

 snakeweed; cashes; wode-thistle. A smooth, purple-spotter!, hollow- 

 stemmed biennial, 2 to 7 feet high, with large parsley-like leaves 

 and showy clusters of small white flowers, which appear in July and 



