SOME POISONOUS PLANTS. 
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The dwarf larkspur is a smooth, simple-stemmed perennial, 
6 to 12 inches high, with a tuberous root, deeply five-parted 
leaves, and a long, loose cluster of blue (sometimes white) flow¬ 
ers, which appear in April and May. It grows in clayey soil 
and open woods, from Pennsylvania and the mountains of North 
Carolina to Southern Minnesota. It is especially reported from 
Ohio as fatal to cattle in April, when the fresh leaves appear. 
WYOMING LARKSPUR. 
Delphinium geyeri Greene. Other Name : Poison-weed. 
Description and Where Found. —A somewhat hairy peren¬ 
nial, io to 20 inches high, with a large spheroidal tuft of 
rather thick, dull-green leaves, and a central column of deep 
azure-blue flowers. A common high prairie plant of Wyoming 
and Northern Colorado. It is reported to be most troublesome 
of the poisonous plants of Wyoming. Ranchmen suffer consid¬ 
erable loss from it, especially in early spring, when the dark- 
green tufts of foliage are conspicuous features of the otherwise 
dry and barren landscape. 
PURPLE LARKSPUR. 
Delphinium Menziesii D. C. 
Description and Where Found. —A somewhat hairy, tuberous- 
rooted perennial, about a foot high, with a basal cluster of finely 
divided, long-stemmed leaves, and a single column of showy 
flowers, which appear at anytime between April and July. The 
flowers are few in number, but are extra large, being from i to 
i y 2 inches broad. This species is found native on hillsides 
from the vicinity of San Prancisco to British Columbia and east¬ 
ward as far as South Dakota. In Montana it is very common. 
Poisonous Character. —The percentage of fatal cases in cat¬ 
tle which have eaten this and other larkspurs is said to be 
small. A rough estimate by a cattleman places it at about 20 
per cent, for one species of the group, when the animals are 
not properly treated, and 5 per cent, otherwise. This is proba¬ 
bly a low estimate, however, for in a case of poisoning from D. 
Menziesii that occurred in Montana in May, 1897, and was re¬ 
ported by Dr. B. V. Wilcox, nearly 600 head of sheep were 
affected, 250 of which died.* 
* Since the above was in press, Dr. S. B. Nelson, professor of Veterinary Science 
in the Washington State Agricultural College, has published (Bull. No. 22, Bureau of 
Animal Industry, U. S. Dept, of Agriculture) the results of an experiment made by him¬ 
self, in which as much as 243^ pounds of the fresh leaves of this plant were fed to a sheep 
within a period of five days without any apparent ill effects. An experiment made by Dr. 
Wilcox (Bull. No. 15, Montana Agricultural Experiment Station), shows that the extract 
from less than an ounce of the dried leaves killed a yearling lamb in two hours, the dose 
having been given by the mouth. 
