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Cicuta bulbifera native to North America, commonly known as the bulb-bearing water-hemlock is a highly poisonous member of the carrot Family (Apiaceae). This taxon is one of four species belonging to the poisonous Cicuta genus. Tiny bulblets form in the leaf joints in the upper part of the plant, and is where the plant gets its name. Cicuta bulbifera can be distinguished from Cicuta douglasii by its narrow leaflet segments (less than 1/4 of an inch wide) and its bulbet bearing upper leaf axils.

Distribution
Cicuta bulbifera is native to North America and has a wide range of distribution all the way North from Newfoundland to British Columbia in Canada, south to Virginia, Indiana, Nebraska and Oregon in the United states. This species is normally found in high quality wetlands.

Habitat and Ecology
Cicuta bulbifera is a perennial and occurs along the edges of marshes and lake margins, in bogs, wet meadows, shallow standing water and along slow moving streams. It can also grow on hummocks and floating mats as well as on partially submerged rotting logs. They are even known to grow on beaver dams.

Morphology


This native perennial plant is 1½–3½' tall, branching occasionally. The stems are light green or light reddish green, glabrous, and glaucous. The compound leaves are up to 1' long and 6" across (excluding their petioles), becoming smaller as they ascend the stems; they are alternate, green, and glabrous. The lower leaves are doubly pinnate, while the upper leaves are often simple-pinnate. The petioles of the lower leaves are long, while those of the shorter leaves are much shorter or absent. The leaflets are up to 3" long and 1/3" across; they are linear to lanceolate-linear, dentate, and sometimes cleft into narrow lobes. The axils of the upper leaves often have sessile clusters of ovoid bulblets. The upper stems terminate into compound umbels of small white flowers. The root system consists of a cluster of elongated fleshy roots. The foliage, seeds, and fleshy roots are toxic (especially the latter). This plant reproduces by its seeds and bulbets.

Flowers and fruit
Each compound umbel spans about 2-4" across and consists of about 8 umbellets. Each umbellet has about 16 flowers. There are neither bracts nor bractlets at the base of the compound umbel and its umbellets, although a small sessile leaf may occur near the base of the compound umbel. Each flower spans about 1/8" across and consists of 5 white petals, 5 stamens, 2 styles, and an ovary. The blooming period occurs during late summer to early fall and lasts about a month. There is no noticeable floral scent. Each seed is contained in a fruit about 1/8" long that is somewhat flattened, ovoid-oblongoid, and slightly notched at its apex.

Toxicity
Highly poisonous to humans and livestock. The tuberous roots, stem base, and young shoots are especially toxic. Livestock poisoning from Water Hemlocks is the most common in dry areas of the western US, where grazing animals are drawn to low areas for green forage during dry spells.

Poisionous principle
The poisonous properties of Cicuta bulbifera are smiliar to that of the Cicuta genera. The roots and rootstalks are the most poisonous parts of the plant, but apparently all parts of the plant may contain some of the poison, especially in the early stages of growth. Ingestion of a small portion of the root is enough to kill an adult. Some would list these plants as the most poisonous naturally occurring North American genus of leafy plants.

Conditions of poisoning
Poisoning from these plants have been reported a number of times in human beings. Children and adults have consumed the roots mistaking them for parsnips or other roots, often with fatal results. Most cases of poisoning however occur in early spring. The quantity of Cicuta bulbifera necessary to cause death varies with the season and age of the plant. A piece of root about the seize of a walnut is enough to cause the death of a cow.

Symptoms
The symptoms of poisining by Cicuta bulbifera in human beings include pain in the stomach, nausea, violent vomiting, diarrhea, dilated pupils, labored breathing, foaming at the mouth and rapid convulsions. In animals the first symptom is generally frothing at the mouth followed by uneasiness and pain this is succeeded by violent intermittent convulsions in which the animal kicks while throwing its head back.

Treatment
Some suggested treatment is to give an efficient emetic, followed by a cathartic. If free vomiting is promptly produced, the patient is likely to recover. For cattle, injections of morphine have been recommended to reduce convulsions and to ease their pain. Ordinarily, their convulsions are so intense that nothing can be done for the animal.