42 



exudes when the bulb is cut. The tabes are larger and more numerous 

 in the outer walls. The rootstock furnishes the bulk of the poisou. 

 The other portion of the root consists of solid, fleshy libers, which run 

 along on, or just under, the surface of the soil, and send off numerous 

 rootlets from beneath. The rootstock rots or dwindles away almost 

 entirely before the seeds mature, but fresh ones are formed from it for 

 the next season's growth. The plant grows in wet or marshy places, 

 and ranges from British Columbia and Idaho southward to northeastern 

 California, and perhaps to the southern Sierra Nevada. 



Cases of poisoning. — Oasesof cattle poisoning have been reported from 

 Victoria, British Columbia, Colby, Wash., from various parts of Oregon, 

 and from northern California. Prof. IT. P. Hedrick, of Corvallis, Oreg., 

 who has investigated cases of poisoning from this plant, believes that 

 more than one hundred cattle are killed by it every year in Oregon. 

 A piece ot the winter rootstock the size of a walnut was found to be 

 fatal to a cow. A piece the size of a marble is looked upon as danger- 

 ous to man. Human cases are not numerous, but a few have been 

 reported where individuals nibbled at the root through curiosity. 



The Oregon water hemlock has often been mistaken for the preced- 

 ing species and also for Cicuta virosa L., but neither of these occur in 

 the far Northwestern States. Some other plants that are mistaken for 

 it are the so-called "wild celery" (Oenanthe sarmentosa), Oregon sweet 

 cicely (Glycosma ambigua), and poisou hemlock (Conium maculatum . 

 These are all easily distinguished by the root, which in no case resem- 

 bles the one here figured. 



Antidotes. — All that is stated under the water hemlock with regard 

 to its poisonous constituents, symptoms, and antidotes may be applied 

 also to this plant. It is likewise in need of chemical examination. 



Other species. — To these two species there are to be added a few others 

 which have been suspected in cases of poisoning and which have the 

 same effects. As stated above, Cicuta virosa. the species which is 

 particularly known to be poisonous in Europe, does not seem to occur 

 m the United States. Specimens sent from Hon. J. E. Anderson, 

 deputy minister of agriculture of British Columbia, do seem, however, 

 to belong to this species. We are informed that several cases of poi- 

 soning have occurred there which were due to eating its line fibrous 

 roots, which were mistaken for those of a similar aromatic plant, 

 Ligusticum scoticum, the long rootlets of which are much sought after 

 by the French Canadians uuder the name "queue des rats." Cicuta 

 buJbifera is found in the Great Lakes States, in West Virginia, New 

 Jersey, and northwards. C. bolanderi is the largest of all the species, 

 often attaining a height of 10 feet. It is found only locally near the 

 bay of San Francisco. These species grow best in damp, marshy soil, 

 and resemble the preceding in their general appearance. They are 

 best distinguished botanically by the character of their underground 

 parts. 



