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Western Wetland Flora

Field Office Guide to Plant Species

Western Water-hemlock
Cicuta douglasii (DC.) Coult. & Rose

JPG -- Species Photo JPG -- Distribution Map

Family: Carrot (Umbelliferae)
Flowering: June-September
Field Marks: This species has large, much divided, alternate leaves and large umbels of white flowers. The smooth fruits are ovoid to nearly spherical.
Habitat: Swamps, wet roadside ditches.
Habit: Stout perennial herb with an enlarged rootstock.
Stems: Upright, stout, branched, up to 6 feet tall, smooth.
Leaves: Alternate, much divided, sometimes at least 3-pinnate, the leaflets narrowly lanceolate, up to 4 inches long, toothed or even shallowly lobed, smooth.
Flowers: Many borne in large umbels, the umbels up to 4 inches across; each umbel sometimes subtended by 1 or more bracts.
Sepals: 5, green, very tiny.
Petals: 5, white, free from each other, about 1/10 inch long.
Stamens: 5.
Pistils: Ovary inferior.
Fruits: Ovoid or nearly spherical, up to 1/6 inch long, smooth but with low ribs.
Notes: All parts of this plant are poisonous if eaten.

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Page Last Modified: Saturday, 02-Feb-2013 06:26:15 EST
Menlo Park, CA [caww54]