Cicuta virosa

Life-forms

Classification System: APG IV

Superregnum: Eukaryota
Regnum: Plantae
Cladus: Angiosperms
Cladus: Eudicots
Cladus: Core eudicots
Cladus: Asterids
Cladus: Campanulids
Ordo: Apiales

Familia: Apiaceae
Subfamilia: Apioideae
Tribus: Oenantheae
Genus: Cicuta
Species: Cicuta virosa
Varietas: C. v. var. latisecta
Name

Cicuta virosa L., 1753
Synonyms

Cicuta angustifolia Kit.
Cicuta baldacciana Degen ex Baldacci
Cicuta cellulosa Gilib.
Cicuta mackenzieana Raup
Cicuta orientalis Degen
Cicuta pumila Behm
Cicuta tenuifolia Schrank
Cicuta virosa f. angustifolia (Kit.) Schube
Cicuta virosa var. angustisecta Celak.
Cicuta virosa f. longiinvolucellata Chu
Cicuta virosa var. orientalis Degen & Baldacci
Cicuta virosa var. stricta K.F.Schultz
Cicuta virosa var. tenuifolia (A.Fröhl.) K.Koch
Cicutaria aquatica Lam.
Cicutaria virosa (L.) Delarb.
Coriandrum cicuta Roth
Selinum virosum (L.) E. H. L. Krause
Sium cicuta Weber ex Wigg.

Distribution
Native distribution areas:

Continental: Europe
Austria, Belgium, England, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Switzerland, Netherlands, +Spain, Hungary, Italy, Croatia, Slovenia, Serbia & Kosovo, Norway, Poland, Romania, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, N-, C-, S- & E-European Russia, Belarus, Moldavia, Ukraine, Sweden
Continental: Asie
Georgia [Caucasus], Siberia (W-Siberia, C-Siberia), Russian Far East, North Korea, South Korea, Mongolia, Turkey (NE-Anatolia), China (Gansu, Hebei, Heilongjiang, Jilin, Liaoning, Nei Mongol, Shaanxi, Sichuan, Xinjiang, Yunnan), Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Jammu & Kashmir (Kashmir), India (NW-Himalaya)
Continental: Northern America
Alaska, Canada (Alberta, British Columbia, Manitoba, Northern Territories, Ontario, Quebec, Saskatchewan, Yukon)

References: Brummitt, R.K. 2001. TDWG – World Geographical Scheme for Recording Plant Distributions, 2nd Edition
References

Linnaeus, C. 1753. Species Plantarum. Tomus I: 255. Reference page.

Links

Hassler, M. 2018. Cicuta virosa. World Plants: Synonymic Checklists of the Vascular Plants of the World In: Roskovh, Y., Abucay, L., Orrell, T., Nicolson, D., Bailly, N., Kirk, P., Bourgoin, T., DeWalt, R.E., Decock, W., De Wever, A., Nieukerken, E. van, Zarucchi, J. & Penev, L., eds. 2018. Species 2000 & ITIS Catalogue of Life. Published on the internet. Accessed: 2018 Aug. 24. Reference page.
International Plant Names Index. 2018. Cicuta virosa. Published online. Accessed: Aug. 24 2018.
The Plant List 2013. Cicuta virosa in The Plant List Version 1.1. Published on the internet. Accessed: 2018 Aug. 24.
Tropicos.org 2018. Cicuta virosa. Missouri Botanical Garden. Published on the internet. Accessed: 2018 Aug. 24.
USDA, ARS, Germplasm Resources Information Network. Cicuta virosa in the Germplasm Resources Information Network (GRIN), U.S. Department of Agriculture Agricultural Research Service. Accessed: 07-Oct-06.

Vernacular names
العربية: بسباس سام
azərbaycanca: Zəhərli subaldırğanı, Cicuta
беларуская: Цыкута ядавітая
čeština: rozpuk jízlivý, rozpuk
Cymraeg: buladd
Deutsch: Wasserschierling, Wüterich
English: Cowbane, Northern Water Hemlock
eesti: Harilik mürkputk
euskara: Uretako astaperrexil
suomi: Myrkkykeiso
Nordfriisk: Gaalrut
français: Ciguë aquatique, Ciguë vireuse, Cigue aquatique
Gaelg: Aghaue veg
magyar: Gyilkos csomorika, csomorika, vízibürök
հայերեն: մոլեխինդ թունավոր
日本語: ドクゼリ
한국어: 독미나리
lietuvių: Nuodingoji nuokana
norsk bokmål: Selsnepe
Nederlands: Waterscheerling
norsk nynorsk: Selsnepe
norsk: Selsnepe
polski: Szalej jadowity
русский: Вёх ядовитый, Вех ядовитый, Цикута ядовитая, Вех, Веха, Вёх, Цикута
slovenčina: rozpuk jedovatý
svenska: Sprängört
Türkçe: Su baldıranı
українська: Цикута отруйна
中文: 毒芹

Cicuta virosa, the cowbane or northern water hemlock,[2] is a poisonous species of Cicuta, native to northern and central Europe, northern Asia and northwestern North America.

Description

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It is a perennial herbaceous plant which grows up to 1–2 m tall. The stems are smooth, branching, swollen at the base, purple-striped, and hollow except for partitions at the junction of the leaves and stem. In cross section the stems have one flat side and the other sides are rounded. The leaves are alternate, tripinnate, only coarsely toothed, unlike the ferny, lacy leaves found in many other members of the family Apiaceae. The flowers are small, white and clustered in umbrella shaped inflorescences typical of the family. The many flowered umbellets have unequal pedicels that range from 5 to 11 cm long during fruiting. An oily, yellow liquid oozes from cuts to the stems and roots. This liquid has a rank smell resembling that of parsnips or carrots. The plant may be mistaken for parsnip due to its clusters of white tuberous roots.

It grows in wet meadows, along streambanks and other wet and marshy areas.
History

Scholars dispute whether a hemlock of the genus Cicuta or the genus Conium served in ancient Greece as a state poison, administered as a method of capital punishment. The Greek philosopher Socrates drank a cup of some kind of hemlock infusion at his execution in 399 BC. Cicuta virosa is however primarily a northern European species, rare or absent from the Mediterranean region, making its use in Greece unlikely. See Poison hemlock for more information.

The dose of hemlock used for Greek executions was not always immediately fatal, and sometimes it proved necessary to administer a second cup of the poison.

...having drunk all the Hemlock juice, the quantity was found insufficient and the executioner refused to prepare more unless he was paid 12 drachmas.
—from an account[3] of the execution of Phocion in 318 BC

Considering the extreme toxicity of Cicuta virosa, this passage provides further evidence that it was not the species of hemlock used.

In the past, this plant has had a number of colorful names, including Mackenzie's water hemlock,[4] Beaver-poison, Children's-bane, Snakeweed and Musquash-poison.[5]
Toxicity
Main article: Cicuta toxicity
The fresh subterranean parts of the blooming plant are used in homeopathy as remedy

The plant contains cicutoxin, which disrupts the workings of the central nervous system. In humans, cicutoxin rapidly produces symptoms of nausea, emesis and abdominal pain, typically within 60 minutes of ingestion. Poisoning can lead to tremors and seizures. A single bite of the root (which has the highest concentration of cicutoxin) can be sufficient to cause death. In animals the toxic dose and the lethal dose are nearly the same. One gram of water hemlock per kilogram of weight will kill a sheep and 230 grams is sufficient to kill a horse. Due to the rapid onset of symptoms, treatment is usually unsuccessful.
Fossil record

Cicuta virosa fossil fruit halves are described rare in the Pliocene of Europe but common in the Pleistocene interglacial floras of the East European Plain.[6]
References

Lansdown, R.V. (2014). "Cicuta virosa". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2014: e.T167932A42415001. doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2014-1.RLTS.T167932A42415001.en. Retrieved 19 November 2021.
"Cicuta virosa". European and Mediterranean Plant Protection Organization (EPPO). Retrieved 15 May 2021.
"Ancient Poisons". Portfolio.mvm.ed.ac.uk. Archived from the original on 2007-03-21. Retrieved 2013-08-15.
Mulligan, Gerald A. (1980). "The genus Cicuta in North America". Canadian Journal of Botany. 58 (16): 1755–1767. doi:10.1139/b80-204.
Britton, N.L., and A. Brown. 1913. An illustrated flora of the Northern United States, Canada from Newfoundland to the parallel of the southern boundary of Virginia, and from the Atlantic Ocean westward to the 102nd meridian. [S.l.]: Scribner.ISBN 0486226433 page 658.
The Pliocene flora of Kholmech, south-eastern Belarus and its correlation with other Pliocene floras of Europe by Felix Yu. VELICHKEVICH and Ewa ZASTAWNIAK - Acta Palaeobotanica 43(2): 137–259, 2003