Douglas' water-hemlock - Cicuta douglasii
Family: APIACEAE - Carrot Family [E-flora]
Other Names: western water hemlock.[E-flora]
Deadly
Synonyms
- Cicuta maculata var. californica (A. Gray) B. Boivin [E-flora]
- C. occidentalis. [Harrington]
General: Stout perennial herb from a taproot or cluster of tuberous roots; stems solitary or few together from a tuberous-thickened and chambered base, leafy, glabrous, 0.5-2 m tall.[IFBC-E-flora]
Leaves: Basal and stem leaves divided 1-3 times, leaflets 3-4 times as long as broad, lanceolate to narrowly oblong or elliptic, these sharply pointed and toothed, 4-7 mm long; lateral veins ending at base of the teeth.[IFBC-E-flora]
Flowers: Inflorescence of several to many small, compact clusters forming several compound umbels; flowers white to greenish; involucral bracts mostly lacking.[IFBC-E-flora]
Fruits: Egg-shaped to orbicular, 2-4 mm long, glabrous, corky-thickened; ribs unequal, with a narrow raised border on edge of dark intervals.[IFBC-E-flora]
Plant 15–30 dm. Leaf: 1.5–4.5 dm, narrowly ovate to triangular-ovate, 1–2(3)-pinnate; leaflets 1–10(15) cm, linear to widely lanceolate, acute or acuminate, ± entire to coarsely serrate, areas surrounded by veins on abaxial surface rough-textured, generally some elongate. Inflorescence: umbels compound, terminal and lateral; peduncles 2–18 cm; rays 15–30(35), 2–8 cm; pedicels 20–30, 2–10 mm. Fruit: 2–4 mm, generally round; rib width >> intervals between.
2n=44. Wet places, generally aquatic; < 2800 m. North Coast, High North Coast Ranges, Inner North Coast Ranges, High Cascade Range, s Sierra Nevada Foothills, High Sierra Nevada, Central Coast, South Coast, Great Basin Floristic Province; to British Columbia, Montana. Jun–Sep [Online Interchange][Jepson2012]
Habitat / Range
Wet stream edges, ditches and marshes in the lowland, steppe and montane zones; common throughout BC except the Queen Charlotte Islands; N to AK and S to ID, NV and CA. [IFBC-E-flora]
Origin Status: Native [E-flora]
Distribution & Habitat
Cicuta spp. are found growing across North America and Europe. Typically, they grow in wet habitats usually alongside ponds and streams, in marshes or swamps, or areas that are swampy at least part of the year. Plants can also be found growing in water.[2][3] Of the four species, Cicuta maculata has the most widespread distribution occurring across the majority of North America. Cicuta bulbifera also has a relatively large distribution, found throughout Northern North America. Cicuta douglasii is found in the northwest corner of North America, while Cicuta virosa is only found in central Europe and in the far north of North America.[1][3] [Wiki]
Hazards
This plant (with its eastern relative) has gained the reputation of being the most poisonous plant in the North Temperate Zone. The poison is concentrated mostly in the lower part of the stems or
roots. It often causes death to livestock, and it is sometimes stated that a piece the size of a walnut will cause the death of a cow. Human beings have sometimes been poisoned by water hemlock, eating the
underground parts, having mistaken them for various edible roots like parsnips. Children will sometimes do this, often with fatal results. It is said that a piece the size of a marble can cause death to a
man. The poison is very virulent and causes violent convulsions. Vomiting should be induced at once and a strong cathartic administered. [Harrington]
"All parts of the plant are poisonous, but the roots and stem-base especially so. The basal parts of 1 plant can kill a cow. An important feature that aids in identification of C. douglasii and serves to distinguish it from other similar plants (e.g., Angelica, Heracleum, Sium) is the arrangement of the leaf veins. The lateral veins of its leaflets end at the base of the marginal teeth rather than at the points. Also, the thickened stem-base, when cut lengthwise, clearly reveals the chambers (not found in Heracleum, Sium, Oenanthe, Osmorhiza, Conioselinum, Daucus, Ligustichum; but see Angelica) and an evil-looking orange-yellow resin. Aboriginal elders maintain that the only antidote to poisoning from this plant is drinking salmon-head soup or salmon oil." [PCBC]
Identification: Though poison and water hemlock usually have roots with chambers, Daisy Lee Bitter of Homer, Alaska, has found young roots of C. mackenzieana (virosa) that lack pronounced separations in the roots. She comments that the pungent odor of the roots is the most diagnostic characteristic in recognizing Cicuta.[Schofield]Cicutoxin
Cicuta's toxic properties are attributed to cicutoxin, a resinlike substance found in all parts of the plants, but most concentrated in the root. [Schofield]Properties: Poisonous Plants of the United States describes cicutoxin as ". . . a clear, brown, sticky substance with an acid reaction, which is soluble in alcohol, chloroform, ether and dilute alkalis." [Schofield]
The LD50 in mice administered cicutoxin by intraperitoneal injection is 48.3 mg per kg body weight (mg/kg); this compares with 5.9 mg/kg for mice given potassium cyanide by intraperitoneal injection, while the LD50 for arsenic via intraperitoneal injection in mice is 46.2 mg/kg.[22] The exact toxic dose of plant material in humans is unknown; it is thought ingestion of water hemlock in any quantity can result in poisoning and very small amounts may lead to death.[1]
Pharmacology: Cicutoxin depresses the respiratory system. Typical symptoms, which appear fifteen minutes to one hour after ingestion, include salivation, followed by diarrhea, tremors, severe stomach distress, and violent convulsions. Without treatment, one generally dies within eight hours of ingestion. [Schofield]
Upon consumption, both in humans and other species, the symptoms of poisoning are mainly characterized by generalized seizures.[1] The onset of symptoms following ingestion may be as soon as 15 minutes post ingestion. Initial symptoms reported may include nausea, vomiting, abdominal pain, tremors, confusion, weakness, dizziness, and drowsiness;[16][28] Symptoms of excess salivation, wheezing, respiratory distress, and absence of breathing have also been reported.[1][28][Wiki]
Treatment: Although vomiting should usually not be induced when convulsions are likely to occur (due to chance of aspiration into the lungs), inducing vomiting may be the only chance of survival. Marsh, et aI., in a United States Department of Agriculture bulletin, state that "if free vomiting is promptly induced, the patient is likely to recover." [Schofield]
Initial treatment of poisoning may include gastrointestinal decontamination with activated charcoal.[37] Decontamination is typically only performed if a potentially toxic amount of plant matter has been ingested up to one hour previously and the patient has a normal intact airway or has been intubated.[1] There is no specific antidote for water hemlock poisoning and treatment mainly consists of supportive care. Treatment may include control of seizures with the administration of a benzodiazepines such as lorazepam or diazepam, or if seizures are refractory to this treatment, a barbiturate such as phenobarbital is administered.[1] [Wiki]
Animals poisoned by Cicuta are given injections of anticonvulsant drugs to control convulsions and a purgative agent to remove toxins. Marsh et al. warn that "ordinarily the convulsions are so violent that nothing can be done for the animal” [Schofield]
Prognosis: Deaths usually occur from respiratory failure or ventricular fibrillation secondary to ongoing seizure activity;[1] fatalities have occurred within a few hours of ingestion.[3] Poisoned people who recover usually regain consciousness and seizures cease within 24 to 48 hours of poisoning, although seizures may persist for up to 96 hours.[1] There are occasional long-term effects such as retrograde amnesia of the events leading to intoxication and the intoxication itself.[8][28][32][34] Other ongoing mild effects may include restlessness, muscle weakness, twitching, and anxiety.[1][35] Complete resolution of symptoms may take a number of days or, in some cases, these ongoing symptoms may persist for months after poisoning.[1] [Wiki]
Edible Uses
Oswalt (1957) reports that the green leaves of one species of water-hemlock (C. mackenzieana) were cooked in water with fresh fish by Western Eskimo of Alaska, but the plant was otherwise not used. The roots were never eaten, and were considered poisonous to people, although small rodents are said to eat them. Considering the known toxicity of this plant, its use as food is not recommended under any circumstances. [Turner&Kuhnlein]Medicinal Uses
Poultice
"The roots were occasionally used externally as a poultice for swellings, but because of their extreme toxicity, their use is not recommended." [PCBC]
Purgative
Bella Coola: Roots used as a purgative. [Smith(1927)]
This is one of the most poisonous plants
known to man. It contains cicutoxin, a violent convulsant acting directly on the central
nervous system (Claus and Tyler, 1967).
The Kwakiutl used it with caution as a
purgative and to induce vomiting (Boas,
1966). The Salish may also have had such
medicinal uses for it.[Turner&Bell1]
Diarrhoea
Young fir bark, burned, pulverized, and mixed with water in which waxwaxuli (Cicuta douglasii) had been rubbed, was taken for diarrhoea (Boas, 1966). [Turner&Bell2]]
Historical Usage
To induce permanent sterility, writes Weiner in Earth Medicine, Earth Foods, Cherokees chewed hemlock root for four consecutive days. Rafinesque, a botanist of the 1700s, said that a similar remedy was taken by Indians ". . . tired of life and desiring a speedy demise." Historians generally believe Socrates was killed by a different but equally deadly hemlock, C. maculatum. Conium was also used by medieval herbalists "to keep maiden's teats small," and to destroy lust. As an external application, it was once used for rheumatic pain.[Schofield]
Throughout the ages, hemlocks of various species have been used to execute both criminals and kings. Oregon Indians soaked arrows in Cicuta juice, rattlesnake venom, and decayed deer liver to poison tips for hunting. [Schofield]
Phytochemicals
Cicuta douglasii (DC.) Coult.+Rose
Family: Apiaceae
Seed and Pericarp
Mass of 1,000, g: 3.9
Oil, % dry wt: 16.9
FAs
Composition (GLC, Ag+ TLC), %: 16:0 – 4.6;
18:0 – 1.1; 18:1(6) – 39.3; 18:1(9) – 14.8; 18:2 –
39.5; 18:3 – 0.7 [LEO,2012]
Cicuta Sp.
"Habit: Perennial herb, glabrous; rhizome internally chambered, sap becoming +- red-brown in air, fibrous- or tuberous-rooted. Stem: erect, hollow. Leaf: blade oblong to triangular-ovate, 1--3-pinnate or ternate-pinnate, leaflets linear to lance-ovate, serrate or irregularly cut. Inflorescence: umbels compound; bracts generally 0; bractlets generally inconspicuous; rays, pedicels many, spreading. Flower: calyx lobes minute; petals wide, white, tips narrowed. Fruit: ovoid to spheric, +- compressed side-to-side; ribs low, corky, occasionally unequally spaced; oil tube 1 per rib-interval; fruit axis divided to base. Seed: face flat or concave.
Species In Genus: +- 4 species: Eurasia, North America. Etymology: (Ancient Latin name) Toxicity: TOXIC: the most lethally toxic native plant species." [Jepson]
KEY TO CICUTA
"1. Axils of leaves with bulblets; leaflets with narrowly linear segments" ... C. bulbifera
"1. Axils of leaves without bulblets; leaflets lanceolate."
"2. Fruits slightly broader than long; midvein on upper leaflet surface scabrous" ..... C. virosa
"2. Fruits from as broad as long to longer than broad; midvein on upper leaflet surface glabrous."
"3. Leaflets 3-4 times as long as broad, lanceolate to narrowly oblong or elliptic; fruit with a narrow raised
border along edge of dark interval" ........ C. douglasii [E-flora]
"Leaflets more than 5 times as long as broad, linear to narrowly lanceolate; fruit without a raised border along edge of dark interval C. maculata" [E-flora]
Local Species;
- Cicuta douglasii - Douglas' water-hemlock [E-flora]
Other, Non-local, B.C. Species
- Cicuta bulbifera - bulbous water-hemlock [E-flora]
- Cicuta maculata - spotted cowbane [E-flora]
- Cicuta virosa - European water-hemlock [E-flora]
Cicuta bulbifera - bulbous water-hemlock
"General:
Stout perennial herb from a taproot or cluster of tuberous roots; stems single, not thickened at the base, erect, 0.3 to 1 m tall." [IFBC-E-flora]
"Leaves:
Basal leaves absent; stem leaves compound, divided 1-3 times; the middle and lower leaves dissected, narrowly linear; the upper leaves reduced
with fewer segments, many bearing axillary bulbils; leaflets 3-5 cm long." [IFBC-E-flora]
"Flowers:
"Inflorescence terminal in a compound umbel, white to greenish; calyx saw-toothed." [IFBC-E-flora]
"Fruits:
Rounded, 1.5-2 mm long, constricted where the carpels join, ribs broad." [IFBC-E-flora]
Habitat & Range
"Wet marshes and meadows in the montane zone; infrequent in BC N of 52degreeN and E of the Coast-Cascade Mountains; N to AK, YT and NT, E to NF and S to FL, NE and OR." [IFBC-E-flora]
Status: Native [E-flora]
Cicuta maculata - spotted cowbane
SUBTAXA PRESENT IN BC Cicuta maculata var. angustifolia"General:
Stout perennial herb from a taproot or cluster of tuberous roots; stems solitary or few together from a tuberous-thickened
chambered base, glabrous, 0.5-2 m tall." [IFBC-E-flora]
"Leaves:
Stem leaves compound, divided 1-3 times without bulbils in axils; leaflets more than 5 times as long as broad, linear to narrowly lanceolate;
midvein on upper leaflet surface glabrous." [IFBC-E-flora]
"Flowers:
Inflorescence of several to many small compact clusters aggregated in several compound umbels; flowers white to greenish, small,
numerous; involucral bracts mostly lacking." [IFBC-E-flora]
"Fruits:
Egg-shaped to orbicular, 2-4 mm long, longer than wide, without raised border on edge of the dark interval.
"Notes:
A single collection of var. maculata is known from SW BC (Mulligan 1980). It is distinguished from var. angustifolia by its
longer styles, elongate fruit and broader stem leaflets." [IFBC-E-flora]
Habitat & Range
"Wet streamsides, ditches and marshes in the steppe and montane zones; common in BC E of the Coast-Cascade Mountains; N to AK, YT and NT, E to ON and S to TX and MX." [IFBC-E-flora]
Status: Native [E-flora]
Cicuta virosa - European water-hemlock
(Wikimedia)1
(Wikimedia)2
(Wikimedia)3
Dye "The Crees extract some beautiful colours from several of their native vegetables. They dye their porcupine quills a beautiful scarlet, with the roots of two species of bed-straw, (galium tinctorium, and boreale) which they indiscriminately term sawoyan. The roots, after being carefully washed, are boiled gently in a clean copper kettle, and a quantity of the juice of the moose berry, strawberry, cranberry, or arctic raspberry, is added together with a few red tufts of pistils of the larch. The porcupine quills are plunged into the liquor before it. becomes quite cold, and are soon tinged of a beautiful scarlet. The process sometimes fails, and produces only a dirty brown, a circumstance which ought: probably to be ascribed to the use of an undue quantity of acid. They dye black with an ink made of elder bark, anda little bog-iron-ore, dried and pounded, and they have various modes of producing yellow. The deepest colour is obtained from the dried root of a plant, which from their description appears to be the cow-bane (cicuta virosa..) An inferior colour is obtained from the bruised buds of the Dutch myrtle, and they have discovered methods of dyeing with various lichens." (J. Murray, 1823])
Synonyms Cicuta mackenzieana RaupReferences
- (J. Murray, 1823]) Franklin, John. (1823). Narrative of a journey to the shores of the polar sea. J. Murray. Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.5962/bhl.title.95923
Image References
- 1, Cicuta virosa, Franz Eugen Köhler, Köhler's Medizinal-Pflanzen, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
- 2, Cicuta virosa, Amdb73, CC BY-SA 3.0
- 3, Cicuta virosa, Jan Kops, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
- [Duke] Duke Phytochemical Database, James A. Duke, Accessed Feb , 2014, http://www.ars-grin.gov/duke/plants.html
- E-flora,
- Cicuta douglasii, http://linnet.geog.ubc.ca/Atlas/Atlas.aspx?sciname=Cicuta%20douglasii&redblue=Both&lifeform=7, Accessed May 9, 2015
- Cicuta bulbifera L., https://linnet.geog.ubc.ca/Atlas/Atlas.aspx?sciname=Cicuta%20bulbifera&redblue=Both&lifeform=7, Accessed May 6, 2026
- Cicuta maculata L., https://linnet.geog.ubc.ca/Atlas/Atlas.aspx?sciname=Cicuta%20maculata&redblue=Both&lifeform=7, Accessed May 6, 2026
- Cicuta virosa L., https://linnet.geog.ubc.ca/Atlas/Atlas.aspx?sciname=Cicuta%20virosa&redblue=Both&lifeform=7, Accessed May 6, 2026<
- [Jepson] Lincoln Constance & Margriet Wetherwax 2012, Cicuta, in Jepson Flora Project (eds.) Jepson eFlora, https://ucjeps.berkeley.edu/eflora/eflora_display.php?tid=10174, accessed on March 27, 2022.
- [LEO,2012]A.I. Glushenkova (ed.), Lipids, Lipophilic Components and Essential Oils from Plant Sources
- [Wiki] Cicuta - Wikipedia.org Accessed on Feb 9, 2014