43 



When these plants occupy large areas the only safeguard for cattle 

 is to keep them on other pastures, especially when they are hungry. 

 The plants may be destroyed by hand pulling when they occur in small 

 quantities near dwellings or playgrounds. 



POISON HEMLOCK. 

 Conium maculatum L. 



Other names: Hemlock; wild hemlock; spotted parsley; stinkweed; 

 herb bennet; poison root; poison snakeweed; cashes; wode- whistle. 

 (Fig. 23.) 



Description and habitat. — A smooth, purple-spotted, hollow-stemmed 

 biennial, 2 to 7 feet high, with large parsley-like leaves and showy 

 clusters of small white flowers 

 which appear in July and Au- 

 gust. The seed is prominently 

 ridged and has on its inner sur- 

 face a deep, narrow, longitudi- 

 nal groove. The fresh leaves 

 have an extremely nauseating 

 taste, and when bruised emit a 

 very characteristic mouselike 

 odor. Poison hemlock is native 

 to«Europe and Asia, but has be- 

 come naturalized in the United 

 States, and is rather frequent 

 or common on waysides and in 

 waste places in Hew York, West 

 Virginia, Pennsylvania, New 

 Jersey, and Ohio, and not rare in 

 the New England States and in 

 Michigan. It is infrequent in 

 Wisconsin, Illinois, Louisiana, 

 and California, but in some lo- 

 calities in the latter State it has 

 a very rank growth. 



Character of the poison. — The 

 characteristic poison of the hem- 

 lock is the well-known volatile alkaloid, conine, which is found in the 

 seeds, and, especially at flowering time, in the leaves. The root is nearly 

 harmless in March, April, and May, but is dangerous afterwards, 

 especially during the first year of its growth. The poison hemlock is 

 the most generally known poisonous plant historically, it being without 

 much doubt the plant administered by the Greeks to Socrates and 

 other state prisoners. Eecent cases of poisoning have arisen acci- 

 dentally from eating the seed for that of anise, the leaves for parsley, 

 or the roots for parsnips; also from blowing whistles made from the 



Fig. 23. — Poison hemlock (Conium maculatum), 

 showing upper portion of plant with flowers and 

 seed, one-third natural size. 



