430 
W. J. MARTIN. 
American water hemlock is abundant in the more humid eastern 
part of the United States, but apparently it does not extend very 
far into the drier portions of it which are considered in this 
paper. 
Several Western species are best known as stock-poisoning- 
plants. In Wyoming, and probably throughout all the adjoin¬ 
ing States, the Eastern plant is very largely, if not entirely, 
replaced by the Wyoming water hemlock ( C. occidentalism , a 
not very different plant. The purple stemmed water hemlock 
(C. doitglasii ), as well as the Oregon species (C. vagans ), is na¬ 
tive in springy and boggy places and along streams ou the 
humid Western coast. It is not so widely distributed as C. va¬ 
gans, but is well known as a poisonous plant in Washington 
and in British Columbia. The Oregon water hemlock is widely 
distributed from Northern California and Nevada to Washing¬ 
ton and Idaho, but is most abundant in Oregon. The purple¬ 
stemmed species differs from the Wyoming plant in having a 
purple instead of a green stem, smaller and more numerous 
roots, and various minor characters, which are of interest from 
a scientific point of view only. The Eastern species has^short, 
spindle-shaped or oblong tuber-like roots, which are about an 
inch or two in length. All grow in damp ground, either along 
creeks and ditches, or in low marshy places, especially along the 
banks of coast rivers, almost down to the salt water, and fre¬ 
quently in meadows which are cut for hay. 
Odor .—Eike most of the members of the carrot family, to 
which the water hemlock belong, they have a peculiar pene¬ 
trating odor and taste, due to the aromatic oily fluid which is 
found throughout the plants, especially in the roots and seeds. 
It is probably on account of this odor that the plants are usually 
compared with the parsnip, which is the only commonly known 
fleshy-rooted member of the carrot family possessing a similar 
odor. In the case of the water hemlocks, however, the odor is 
more decidedly musky and much more disagreeable. The parsnip 
has one large fleshy taproot, and never becomes poisonous when 
growing without cultivation. The water hemlocks have a clus- 
