PLANTS POISONOUS TO STOCK. 
431 
ter of fleshy roots which are highly poisonous, the oily fluid in 
them containing a highly virulent substance, which is probably 
the same in all the species. 
Roots .—The roots are said to have a benumbing effect upon 
the tongue after long chewing. Unfortunately, however, the 
first taste is somewhat sweet and not sufficiently disagreeable to 
deter children and even men who are in search of wild aromatic 
roots from quickly eating a sufficient quantity to produce fatal 
results. They are generally eaten by mistake for other wild¬ 
growing roots of the carrot family which have a somewhat sim¬ 
ilar taste. Cases of human poisoning have been recorded against 
all of the species of the Northwest with the exception of the 
purple-stemmed one. In the spring of 1900 as many as four 
people were killed in Montana by eating the roots of the Wyo¬ 
ming species. The poisonous properties are well known to the 
Indians, who occasionally use them for suicidal purposes. 
In the case of each of these plants the root is the part best 
known to be poisonous to stock, but the tops are also poisonous 
under some conditions. After long continued rain the roots are 
so loosened that they can be pulled out of the ground without 
difficulty by stock while grazing. In some places the oil has 
been swallowed with water found in marshy places where the 
roots have been trampled upon. Horses that are used in plow¬ 
ing virgin soil in wet land are not infrequently killed by eating 
the exposed roots. Poisoning from the roots takes place during 
winter and early spring, and observations seem to indicate that 
the roots are poisonous only at that time of year. A piece of 
the Oregon root about the size of a walnut is, according to Prof. 
Hedrick, sufficient to kill a cow. Animals may be killed in the 
pasture by eating the young leaves or stalks of plants less than 
a foot or two high. The basal portions of such plants are, at 
least in the case of the Wyoming species, much more poison¬ 
ous than the tops. 
Leaves , Seeds , and Stem .—The green leaves from the taller 
plants are not nearly so dangerous as the lower portions. Seeds 
on plants cut with wild meadow hay, and perhaps to a lesser 
