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Show THE ZEPHYRNOVEMBER 1995 PAGE 26 and very familiar from the preceding three months: gravelbars with their bentgrass ticklegrass; dense swards of bluejoint reedgrass; small stands of scouler willow. sedge However, there was one sight new to our experience: a lush patch of big-le1 knew that this tall was me. as tall as plant an almost unknown overtopped by plant its because a member of the carrot family (Apiaceae or Umbelliferae), pretty, flower dusters (umbels) were reminiscent of Queen Anne's lace and cow technical parsnip. However, there was no time or place to identify it further using a in plant manual, so I just put some of it in the plant press for later inspection back town. Town" at that time was Logan, Utah. Two weeks after collecting the unknown tall plant I was working on getting it identified in the Utah State University herbarium. I cut open one of the small nutlike fruits and got a pleasant whiff of odor. I took a bunch more in my hand, crushed them up, and took some long sniffs. The 1 aroma was a very fragrant, soothing lemony-carawa- y type of smell. had an associate at the next table smell some briefly; she said it was the kind of stuff a person would want to make tea out of. 1 agreed, then added jokingly, "unless it was poisonous". So I got back to my plant manual and soon came to a description and pictures that looked just right: I now knew the name of my tall umbel plant. and short of breath, with my heart Suddenly I started feeling very beating rapidly. These sensations subsided after a few minutes, but I was a bit worried during that time because the plant whose aromas I had just inhaled deeply was Cicuta douglasii, commonly known as water hemlock. It is a close relative of carrots, parsley, celery, parsnips, anise, fennel, coriander, caraway and dill. In sharp contrast to these vegetables and herbs, however, water hemlock is in the words of the plant manual "violently poisonous". 1 was impressed with the physical effects that just a few sniffs of the water hemlock fruits had had on me. The next day I found a book on poisonous plants in the herbarium and did a bit of research on water hemlock. I read that all parts of water hemlock are poisonous, though the roots and lower stems arc the most virulent, n cow. especially in the spring time. A piece the size of a walnut can kill a The poison attacks the nervous system directly, usually within thirty minutes. Symptoms are salivation, upset, grindingtocking of the teeth, violent convulsions, delirium, complete paralysis, respiratory failure, and death. To cap it off, the book noted that the genus Cicuta is considered by many to be the most deadly poisonous group of plants in the entire north temperate zone of the world. Imagine all of that lurking in a plant that is attractive to the eye and soothing to the smell, growing beside a tranquil river where the salmon spawn. "But," you say cautiously, "you found that plant in the mountains of central Idaho. That's a long way from the Colorado Hateau. VVe can sit here in the canyon countiy without a care in the world about such poisonous plants, can't we?" Well... A news brief on page B1 of the April 6, 1995 edition of the Moab described how four Montezuma County (Colorado) youths were rushed to the hospital in Cortez after eating some water hemlock roots. They were cleaning an irrigation ditch along McElmo Canyon Road when they sampled the plants that they mistook for wild carrots. They quickly began to feel toxic effects. Two of the four suffered seizures on the way to the hospital, were admitted unconscious to the intensive care unit, had their stomachs pumped, and were put on respirators. Four days after the incident, one of the four remained in the hospital in serious condition. Water hemlock grows abundantly along ditches and close to other water sources in rural Montezuma County. It has also been found cast of La Sal in San Juan County, Utah, near the turnoff from Highway 46 toward the La Sal Guard Station. "All right already," you say resignedly, "so we do have a world-clas- s poisonous plant right here in our own back yard, to go along with our world-clas- s scenery. But we on the Colorado Flatcau can still be safe from poisonous plants as long as we don't eat any wild plants, can't we? Well... In the early spring of 1994, a female Moab resident with whom I am acquainted was riding her bicycle along the Colorado River road. In dire need of a pit stop, she paused to relieve herself discreetly in ShortShecpIcobox Canyon, just downriver af flat-topp- Down Earth By Joel Tuhy light-head- Maybe I shouldn't admit this in public, but my second favorite movie ever is The Wizard of Oz. That movie has nothing to do with the following article, except for one small part. It's where the Wicked Witch of the West plots to stop Dorothy and the others from reaching the Emerald City: "Something with poison in it" cackles the witch, as she gazes into her crystal ball and mixes a potion; "with poison in it, but attractive to the eye and soothing to the smell." She selects poppies as the vehicle for her poison, though (as we all know) her evil designs are thwarted for the moment by Clinda, Good Witch of the North. Plants provide food for virtually every human being, directly or indirectly. But the plant world is not as as we might like to think. Lurking among the thousands of edible and otherwise useful plant species arc some whose effects on people are unpleasant or lethal. The tropics are the home of some really nasty poisonous plants. For example, there is a tree that grows from Costa Rica to Brazil whose common name, Urari, reveals less to us than does its scientific name: Strychnos toxifera. A book titled Dictionary of Economic Plants by J.C.Th. Uphoff says of this tree: "Smallest amount (of curare extract entering the blood circulation causes paralysis of motor nerves instantly. One of the deadliest poisons." Kind of makes you wonder how the word urari would translate into English. The same book also has a listing of some plants around the world that are used for the purpose of "criminal poisoning". Again, most of these grow in the tropics. One of them, however, known as oleander (Ncrium oleander), is an evergreen shrub with attractive flowers that is widely planted as an ornamental in warm-dese- rt climates of the American southwest. It graces many commercial and residential streets of St. George, Utah, in fact. zones are far away from the "But," you say smugly, "the tropics and warm-deseinterior West. We can sit here in our temperate zone without a care in the world about poisonous plants, can't we?" Well... The summer of 1981 was fast winding down. My partner Shcrm Jensen and I had had a successful field season, sampling riparian (strcamsidc) habitats in the upper Salmon River basin of central Idaho. Now at the end of the season our final task was to scout out adjacent river basins in anticipation of expanding the project the following year. September 2nd found us driving along the South Fork of the Salmon River from Stollc Meadows down to the turnoff to Yellow Pine. Just below Poverty Flat we stopped at a small level area beside the river. Huge salmon were spawning in the shallow water an amazing sight that soon may be lost to future generations. Along the banks, Shcrm and I noted vegetation patterns now rt soil-scienti- st - ed - - full-grow- gastro-intcstin- al Times-Independc- I HAPPY THANKSGIVING THINK IT'S GOING TO FROM LYNN'S IN WHAT A WEEK LOUISVILLE, KY. GET WORSE. I'M HAVIN'. mREMEMBER: ed Were only 1 529 miles away. Its worth the drive. - nt |
