578 FIELD AND GARDEN PRODUCTS 



August. The seed is prominently ridged, and has on its inner sur- 

 face a deep, narrow, longitudinal groove. The fresh leaves have 

 an extremely nauseating taste, and when bruised emit a character- 

 istic mouse-like odor. Poison hemlock is native to Europe and 

 Asia, but has become naturalized in the United States, and is rather 

 common on waysides and in waste places in New York, West Vir- 

 ginia, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Ohio, and not rare in the New 

 England States and in Michigan. It is infrequent in Wisconsin, 

 Illinois, Louisiana, and California, but in some localities in the 

 latter State it has a very rank growth. The characteristic poison of 

 the hemlock is the well-known volatile, alkaloid conine, which is 

 found in the seeds, and, especially at flowering time, in the leaves. 

 The root is nearly harmless in March, Apnl, and May, but is 

 dangerous afterwards, especially during the first year of its growth. 

 The poison hemlock is the most generally known poisonous plant 

 historically, it being without much doubt the plant administered 

 by the Greeks to Socrates and other state prisoners. Recent cases 

 of poisoning have arisen accidentally from eating the seed for that 

 of anise, the leaves for parsley, or the roots for parsnips; also from 

 blowing whistles made from the hollow stems. It has recently been 

 shown that some of the anise seed in both foreign and domestic 

 markets is contaminated with hemlock seeds, but it is not known 

 whether serious consequences have resulted therefrom. The symp- 

 toms in man are such as are due to a general and gradual weakening 

 of muscular power. The power of sight is often lost, but the mind 

 usually remains clear until death ensues, as it soon does from 

 gradual paralysis of the lungs. The poisoning differs from that of 

 the water hemlock (Cicuta maculata) in the absence of convulsions. 

 Many domestic animals have been killed by eating the plant, the 

 prominent symptoms described for cows being loss of appetite, sali- 

 vation, bloating, much bodily pain, loss of muscular power, and 

 rapid, feeble pulse. 



Broad-leaf Laurel (Kalmia latifolia). Laurel (north of Md.) ; 

 ivy (south of Md.) ; mountain laurel; sheep laurel; poison laurel; 

 wood laurel; small laurel; rose laurel; high laurel; American 

 laurel; poison ivy; ivy bush; ivy wood; big ivy; calico bush; spoon- 

 wood; kalmia; wicky. A fine shrub, usually 4 to 8, but sometimes 

 30 to 40 feet high. It has thick, flat, and shining leaves, showy 

 clusters of peculiarly shaped, viscid, and mostly inodorous pink 

 flowers, which appear in May and June, and a globular, viscid, dry, 

 inedible fruit. It grows abundantly on rocky hillsides, in cattle 

 ranges, and on mountain slopes up to 3,000 or 4,000 feet, from Con- 

 necticut to eastern Ohio and along the Alleghenies to Georgia and 

 Alabama; less abundantly in the New England and Southern States 

 as far as Louisiana and Arkansas. Scores of cattle and sheep are 

 poisoned annually by eating the shrub. 



Narrow-leaf Laurel (Kalmia angustifolia) . Sheep laurel; 

 lambkill; sheep poison; lamb laurel; dwarf sheep laurel; small 

 laurel; low laurel; dwarf laurel; wicky. Like the preceding, but 

 smaller, only 2 to 4 feet high, with smaller, thinner, and narrower 



