56 



SYMPTOMS: Marsh and Clawson found that the general symptoms of 

 poisoning by American lupines were distinctly those of alkaloidal poisoning 

 and not of ictrogenic poisoning. The symptoms of poisoning in sheep are 

 heavy and laboured breathing, sometimes frothing at the mouth, a period 

 of coma with snoring. If able to stand, the animal may fall over in its 

 sleep. In acute cases the animal throws itself about violently in its 

 attempts to breathe, followed by violent trembling, convulsions and death. 

 In other cases the coma deepens until the animal dies without a struggle, 

 although the convulsive attacks are the more usual. In the early stages 

 there is drooping of the ears and pushing of the head against surrounding 

 objects. Sheep Affected on the range run about in a frenzied manner, 

 butting into other animals and objects. When attempts were made to 

 give remedies, it was found the animals lost more by the increased excite- 

 ment. In some cases the first symptoms appeared in one or two hours 

 after feeding, in others not till nearly twenty four hours. Death may follow 

 very rapidly or not for a period of two or three days. 



REMEDY AND MEANS OF CONTROL: Remedial measures are practi- 

 cally of no use for range animals, but as the lupines are most poisonous 

 when in seed it is possible to manage the flock so as to avoid poisoning. 



Seed production should be prevented at any cost. This is best done 

 while the plants are in their first bloom, or even before the opening of the 

 flowers. Continued close cutting will in time kill the roots. In some 

 places the land should be cultivated, where possible, and resown with good 

 fodder plants and grasses. 



LOCO WEED. (Oxytropis Lamberti Pursh.) PEA. FAMILY. 

 PLATE XXIII. (Facing p. 60.) 



COMMON NAMES: The loco weed or stemless locoweed is known 

 among stockmen as crazy weed, rattleweed, loco-vetch, and white loco. 



DESCRIPTION: It is a low silky-haired perennial with tufts of very 

 short stems rising from a thick woody rootstock. The stems are so short 

 that the plant is often described as stemless. The leaves are four to nine 

 inches long, pinnately compound with nine to nineteen leaflets which are 

 longer than wide and pointed. The flower stalks are longer than the leaves, 

 the flowers, half to three-quarters of an inch long, vary in colour from 

 purple and violet to yellow or yellowish-white; they are arranged in dense 

 heads. The seed pods are incompletely two-celled, firm, leathery, and 

 covered with silky hairs. The plants vary greatly as regards hairiness, 

 size, and shape of leaflets, colour of flowers and size of pods. The plant i- 

 in bloom from April to August or later, according to locality. 



DISTRIBUTION: The loco weed is common on prairies and dry plains 

 from Saskatchewan to British Columbia and the Yukon. 



