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DESCRIPTION : The marigold, a perennial, is one of the showy members 

 of the buttercup family, with its abundant yellow flowers and luxuriant 

 foliage. The stems are smooth, hollow, and furrowed. The leaves are 

 round or kidney-shaped, with a slightly scalloped or even margin. There 

 are no petals, but the broad, bright sepals take their place. The stamens 

 are numerous. The seed pods are somewhat flattened, spreading, short- 

 beaked, and many-seeded. The plant is in flower from April till June. 



DISTRIBUTION: The marsh marigold is a native of Canada, and is 

 found in swamps, wet meadows, and along streams from Newfoundland to 

 Saskatchewan. 



POISONOUS PROPERTIES: Like most of the species of buttercup, the 

 marsh marigold contains acrid poisonous properties, and both man and 

 animals have suffered. Cattle have died from eating it, although as a 

 general rule, they, as well as sheep, avoid it unless urged by hunger. Miller 

 reports the poisoning of several horses, one of which succumbed. When 

 in a young state the plant is harmless and is eaten boiled as greens, but' 

 Cornevin states that it becomes toxic by the time of blooming and that 

 the toxicity increases with maturity. If eaten after the flower buds 

 have unfolded, it is likely to cause extreme nausea and pain in the abdomen. 

 A. B. Smith holds that the toxicity is due to the alkaloid jervine and the 

 glucoside helleborin. 



When dried with the hay, according to H. C. Long, the plant is harm- 

 less, but Rusby states it causes diarrhoea and loss of milk production. 



SYMPTOMS: According to Cornevin the symptoms are similar to those 

 produced by buttercup poisoning, i. e. diarrhoea, loss of milk production, 

 colic, bloating, inflammation of the bladder, etc. Johnson and Sowerby 

 mention the case of five persons who, after eating marsh marigold as a 

 herb, were "seized with violent sickness and pain in the abdomen, followed 

 by diarrhoea and general cedematous swelling over the whole body." 



OTHER SPECIES OF MARSH-MARIGOLD. 



The western species, no doubt, contain similar poisonous properties 

 and should be viewed with suspicion, although no cases of poisoning have 

 been reported. 



The yellow marsh-marigold (Caltha asarifolia DC.) is the only western 

 species with yellow flowers. It resembles the eastern species in general 

 appearance, and is found in marshy meadows in British Columbia and the 

 Yukon. 



The mountain marsh-marigold (C. leptosepala DC.) has white flowers, 

 usually tinged with blue on the outside. It grows in wet alpine meadows 

 in Alberta, British Columbia, and the Yukon. The two-flowered species 

 (C. biflora DC.) has numerous stem leaves and white flowers with one stalk 

 shorter than the other. The dwarf marsh-marigold (C. chclidonii Greene) 

 grows from two to four inches high. Its leaves are round, heart-shaped and 

 its flowers white. It is found along alpine streams and below the snow. 



