418 COMPOSITAE (COMPOSITE FAMILY) 
WHITE SNAKEROOT 
Eupatorium urticefolium, Reichard 
(Eupatorium ageratoides, L. £.) 
Other English names: White Sanicle, Indian Sanicle, Nettle-leaved 
Sanicle, Deerwort Boneset. 
Native. Perennial. Propagates by seeds. 
Time of bloom: July to October. 
Seed-time: August to November. 
Range: New Brunswick to Ontario and Nebraska, southward to 
Georgia, Louisiana, and Oklahoma. 
Habitat: Open woods, thickets along streams. 
This plant was long suspected of causing in grazing animals a 
peculiar disease, called “Trembles”’ from the muscular tremors 
always noted as a symptom; in turn, if a person ate the milk or 
the butter or the meat from an animal so affected, a disorder known 
as “Milk Sickness”’ resulted, which was often fatal and is said to 
have caused the death of the mother of Abraham Lincoln. But 
in 1908, on a sudden outbreak of this disease in [linois, the De- 
partment of Poisonous Plant Investigations at- Washington ! was 
asked to look into the matter, and the power for injury of White 
Snakeroot was thoroughly tested on several species of animals; 
and finally, convinced of its harmlessness, the chemist experi- 
mented on himself, with no bad effects. So the plant stands 
acquitted. Still, some residents of affected localities say, “ When 
Snakeroot is cleaned out, so are Trembles and Milk Sickness,” 
which is certainly a good thing, and better plants take its place. 
Stem very slender, much branched, smooth or nearly so, one to 
four feet tall. Leaves opposite, broadly ovate, pointed, large, 
thin, smooth, coarsely and sharply toothed, three-nerved, with 
long, slender petioles. Heads in large, compound, corymbose 
clusters, snowy white, each about a quarter-inch broad, the florets 
tubular, five-lobed; the rather long-pointed lobes of the corollas 
and elongated style branches give the flowers a soft, fringy ap- 
pearance, somewhat like the garden Ageratum. 
Means of suppression the same as for Joe-Pye Weed. 
. 1The Supposed Relationship of White Snakeroot to Milk Sickness or ‘‘ Trem- 
es.” 
Bull. No. 121, Bureau of Plant Industry, U. 8. Dept. of Agriculture. 
