﻿ton's Family Herbal, p. 312.— Salisbury’s Bot. Companion, v. ii. p. 134.— FI. 

 Devon, pp. 51 & 167. — Johns!. FI. of Benv. v. i. p. 69. — Walk. FI. of Oxf. p. 

 81. — Don’s Gen. Syst. of Gird, and Bot. v. iii. p. 303. — Burnett’s Outl. of Bot. 

 v. ii. p. 776. — Bab. FI. Bath. p. 20. — Mack. Catal. of Plants of Irel. p. 29. — 

 (Enanthc cicutce facies Lobelii, Ray’s Syn. p. 210. — Filipendula cicutee 

 facies, Johnson’s Gerarde, p. 1059. 



Localities.— In watery places, osier holts, and about the banks of riversand 

 ponds, in various parts of Britain. 



Perennial. — Flowers in June and July. 



Root consisting of many fleshy, oblong, somewhat spindle- 

 shaped, sessile knobs or tubers, from 2 to 6 inches long, each ter- 

 minating in a long, tough fibre. .Stem upright, from 2 to 5 feet 

 high, much branched, round, furrowed, leafy, hollow. Leaves 

 dark shining green, all twice-pinnated, their leaflets generally op- 

 posite, more or less stalked, broad, wedge-shaped, deeply toothed, 

 smooth, and veined. General Umbel rather large, stalked, of many 

 rays. Partial Umbels nearly globular, many-flowered. Flowers 

 white, or slightly tinged with purple. Petals inversely heart- 

 shaped, pointed, points incurved. General and Partial Involu- 

 crums various in number and shape ; sometimes the general invo- 

 lucrum is wanting. Fruit oblong, ribbed. 



The root, in which the deleterious quality of the plant most 

 powerfully resides, abounds in a yellow-coloured juice, which has 

 an acrid, unpleasant taste, and foetid smell. The other parts of the 

 plant also yield the same kind of juice, but less plentifully. 



This appears to be the most virulent of all our umbelliferous 

 plants. Mr. Lightfoot informs us, that he had heard the late 

 Mr. C. D. Ehret, the celebrated Botanic painter, say, that while 

 he was drawing this plant, the smell or effluvia rendered him so 

 giddy, that he was several times obliged to quit thp room, and walk 

 out in the fresh air to recover himself ; but recollecting at last what 

 might probably be the cause of his repeated illness, he opened the 

 door and windows of the room, and the free air then enabled him 

 to finish his work without any more returns of his giddiness. If but 

 a small quantity of any part of the plant is admitted into the stomach, 

 it instantly produces the most violent effects ; such as convulsions, 

 frequent hiccough, ineffectual retchings, haemorrhage from the 

 ears, and other violent symptoms, which terminate in death. To 

 counteract its deleterious effects on the human constitution, a quick 

 emetic, (as flour of mustard in warm water,) and venesection, are 

 most effectual. Many cases of the fatal effects of this plant on 

 persons who had eaten of it, are recorded in the works of Woon- 

 ville, Stephenson, and Thornton, referred to above. 



As the plant greatly resembles smallage or celery, both in ap- 

 pearance and smell, the more caution is necessary respecting it, 

 especially as the roots have not any flavour disagreeable enough to 

 deter persons from eating them. 



According to the observations of Linn.v.us, sheep eat it ; horses and cows te- 

 fuse it. Sir T. Fuankland says, that brood mares sometimes eat the root, and 

 are poisoned by it. In Westmoreland the country people apply a poultice of 

 the herb to the ulcer which forms in the foie part of the cieft of the hoof in 

 horned cattle, which is called the foul. It is conjectured, by some writers, that 

 the poison with which the Athenians took away the lives of malefactors, was an 

 inspissated juice compounded of this and other corrosive herbs. The roots have 

 been used as a bait to poison rats and moles. 



