WEEDS OP THE PARSLEY FAMILY 



10o 



not flattened. They occur frequently along banks, ditches and 



roadsides. Remedies the same. 



(;<;. Chita mai ii.a ta L. Water Hemlock . spoiled Cowbane. Musquash 

 Root (P. N. 2.) 

 Stout, erect, branching, 3-8 feet high, the stem rigid, hollow, marked 

 with purple lines, springing from several fleshy, oblong or spindle-shaped 

 roots: leaves 2- or 3-diyided, the lower long-stalked, often 1 foot long, the 

 leaflets lance-oblong, coarsely and sharply toothed. 1-5 inches long. 

 Flowers white in compound terminal umbels, the umbellets many-flowered. 

 Fruit ovate. £ inch long, with solitary oil tubes between the corky ribs. 

 (Fig. 09.) 



Occurs throughout the State in swamps, ditches and low wet 

 grounds. June- Aug. It is one of the most poisonous native plants 



in the State, the roots being espe- 

 cially dangerous since they are aro- 

 matic, their taste suggesting that of 

 parsnips or sweet-cicely. Both chil- 

 dren and adults sometimes get hold 

 of them where they have become ex- 

 posed in some manner, and their 

 eating results in almost certain 

 death. Many cattle and sometimes 

 sheep are also killed by eating the 

 tubers or by drinking water which 

 has become poisoned by the juices of 

 the crushed roots. In spring when 

 other food is scarce they browse over 

 the wet lands, find the new green 

 shoots and easily pull out the roots 

 which look and taste like those of 

 parsnip, so that they are very 

 agreeable to stock. A piece of the 

 root the size of a walnut is said to 

 be large enough to kill a cow in 20 minutes. The symptoms of 

 the poison in man are vomiting, colicky pains, staggering and 

 frightful convulsions ending in death. When bruised the plant 

 emits a disagreeable odor. Remedies: grubbing or cutting with 

 hoe oi spnd in spring, then drying and burning the roots. 



The poison hemlock {('on in m maculatum L.) is another very 

 poisonous species which has been introduced from Europe. It is 

 also a large branching form with spotted stem and differs from 

 the water hemlock mainly in growing in dry waste places and in 



Fig. 69/ Showing spindle-shaped roots and 

 lower stem; also fruit and cross-section of seed. 

 (After Chesimt.J 



