16 BULLETIN 575, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



TREATMENT FOR LUPINE POISONING. 



No medicinal remedies have been found for cases of lupine poison- 

 ing. The only thing for a sheep herder to do is to make certain in 

 advance that the animals under his care shall not come upon a patch 

 of lupine in pod at a time when they are particularly hungry. 



LAURELS. 



Among the plants classed as laurels are a number which are 

 important as poisonous plants and occasion heavy losses, more espe- 

 cially of sheep. All these plants contain a poisonous substance 

 known as andromedotoxin. The following brief statements concern 

 the laurels which are known to cause losses on the western ranges. 



MENZIESIA GLABELLA. 



This shrub, which grows in the mountains of the extreme North- 

 west, has been found to be distinctly poisonous to sheep. It is not 

 known that many losses have occurred from eating this plant, but 

 it was demonstrated in one case in Idaho that the plant was the 

 cause of very heavy losses, and there is no doubt that when sheep 

 in those regions are pastured on the north slopes where Menziesia 

 is more likely to grow, and are short of other food, disastrous results 

 may follow. Plate XVIII shows this plant in flower. 



BLACK LAUREL (LEUCOTHOE DAVISIAE). 



This plant, generally known through the Sierras as "black laurel," 

 is particularly destructive to sheep. It has thick, dark-green, oval 

 leaves and small white flowers in erect racemes, as shown in Plate 

 XIX, and grows to a height of about 3 or 4 feet. It is found in 

 small patches at elevations from about 3,500 to 5,000 feet in the 

 northern Sierras in California. While far from common, it is yet a 

 very important plant because of its extremely toxic character. It 

 has been stated that a single leaf will poison a sheep. This state^ 

 ment is probably exaggerated, but experimental work shows that 

 very small quantities will poison sheep and that death may be pro- 

 duced by between one and two ounces. 



LEDUM GLANDULOSUM. 



This plant, illustrated in Plate XX, is also known in California as 

 black laurel and probably is not generally distinguished from Leu- 

 cothoe davisiae by the sheepmen, although it has a very different 

 habit. It is rather widely distributed, being found not only in the 

 Sierras and Coast Ranges in California, but also in Oregon, Wash- 

 ington, Nevada, and the Rocky Mountains. While no experimental 

 work has been done with this plant, there seems to be no question 

 that it causes serious losses of sheep in California. 



