What is "cicuta virosa"

Water hemlock \Wa"ter hem"lock\ (Bot)

1. A poisonous umbelliferous plant ( Cicuta virosa) of Europe; also, any one of several plants of that genus.

2. A poisonous plant ( [OE]nanthe crocata) resembling the above.

Cowbane \Cow"bane`\ (kou"b[=a]n`), n. (Bot.) A poisonous umbelliferous plant; in England, the Cicuta virosa; in the United States, the Cicuta maculata and the Archemora rigida. See Water hemlock.

Hemlock \Hem"lock\, n. [OE. hemeluc, humloc, AS. hemlic, hymlic.]

1. (Bot.) The name of several poisonous umbelliferous herbs having finely cut leaves and small white flowers, as the Cicuta maculata, Cicuta bulbifera, and Cicuta virosa, and the Conium maculatum. See Conium.

   Note: The potion of hemlock administered to Socrates is by some thought to have been a decoction of Cicuta virosa, or water hemlock, by others, of Conium maculatum.

2. (Bot.) An evergreen tree common in North America ( Abies Canadensis or Tsuga Canadensis); hemlock spruce.

   The murmuring pines and the hemlocks.
   --Longfellow.

3. The wood or timber of the hemlock tree.

   Ground hemlock, or Dwarf hemlock. See under Ground.

Cicuta virosa (cowbane or northern water hemlock) is a species of Cicuta, native to northern and central Europe, northern Asia and northwestern North America. 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.