Evening Republican, Volume 21, Number 180, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 16 August 1917 — CICUTA IS MOST POISONOUS OF PLANTS [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

CICUTA IS MOST POISONOUS OF PLANTS

(Prepared by the United States Department ot Agriculture.) Clcuta, or water hemlock, is the most poisonous of the plants of the temperate regions both to humans and to domestic animals, yet it Is not generally recognized. The plant Is widely distributed. Unfortunately, it resembles a number of harmless plants and Is not easily recognizable. It belongs .to the same family as carrots and parsnips. It- has a number of popular names, of which the most common is Cowbane or water hemlock. In the mountain regions of the West It is frequently called parsnip or wild parsnip. Other names, less common, are snakeroot, snakeweed, beaver poison, muskrat weed, spotted hemlock and spotted parsley. The plant grows In wet places and Is especially common 4n -some parts of the West along irrigating ditches. It has. a thickened rootstock with roots

which sometimes take the form of a group of tubers. The cicuta is most readily distinguished from plants of similar appearance growing under the same conditions by the transverse chambers id the rootstock. These can be seen by making a longitudinal section. Further description, except by botanical terras, is difficult, but the circular mentioned presents illustrations that make recognition easier. Only the root of cicuta is poisonous; Cases of poisoning are more frequent in the spring, partly because the root's are more likely to be noticed at that time and partly because they appear to be more poisonous then than later in the season. Occasionally stock find the roots when they are washed out by high water in small streams. Farmers in their plowing sometimes bring to

the surface a considerable number of roots, and these are eaten by cattle, with resulting sickness and death. In cases of .the poisoning of human beings the recognized treatment is to give an efficient emetic, followed by a cathartic. Some form of opium may be given to control the convulsions when they are violent. If free vomiting Is promptly produced, the patient Is likely to recover. It is obvious that ruminant animals cannot he treated in this way, for the effective clearing of the stomach Is impossible. While hypodermic injections of morphine may be used to aid in controlling the convulsions and a purgative may help In eliminating the poison, ordinarily the convulsions, are so violent that nothing can be done for the animal. So far as live stock are concerned, about all that can be done must be in

the way of prevention. If the land is plowed where the plant grows, care should be taken that no foots are left where stock can get at them. Where the plants grow in great abundance, as they frequently do along irrigating ditches, it is desirable to dig them out. When this is done the roots should not be left on the surface, but should be .destroyed. It is seldom that stock are poisoned when grazing, unless (hey graze along ditches where the plants sometimes grow almost in the water with very little soil and can easily be pulled up. Perhaps there is no way to prevent some cases of poisoning of children. Something might be accomplished, however, if parents and teachers would attempt to make clear to children the danger of eating strange roots.

YOUNG PLANT, SHOWING FORM OF ROOTSTOCK.