Narrative

Poison hemlock or water hemlock (Cicuta maculata) is found in swamps and low grounds from New Brunswick west to Manitoba, and south to Florida and New Mexico. The up to six foot tall stem is usually marked with purple lines. The petioled leaves are bipinnate or tripinnate. The lanceolate leaf segments are sharply toothed. There is a European species with the common name hemlock that is also poisonous. This species is now widely established in North America. Poison hemlock (Conium maculatum) originated in Europe, but is now found widely in eastern North America. The stem has purple spotting. The leaves are pinnately dissected appearing much like fern leaves. Even though the scientific names appear related, these are two distinct species. Both were named by Linnaeus.

This lifeform is poisoness. This lfieform is found in swamps or very moist ground. This lifeform is locally common.

This lifeform is widespread in North America.

Cicuta genus is native to the temperate zones of the Northern Hemisphere. This genus is also native to Mexico. The members of this genus are erect, tall, perennial, smooth herbs with pinnate or pinnately compound leaves and compound terminal umbels of white flowers. There are five species (one with three varieties) now established in greater North America.

Carrot Family (Ammiaceae to Umbelliferae to Apiaceae) is a large family of about 3,000 species most of which occur in the Northern Hemisphere. Although many of the species in this family are eaten for food, there are several similar species that are poisonous. There are 404 species organized into 84 genera now living in greater North America.

Carrot or Umbel Order (Umbelliflorae Order) can be recognized by the fact that their flowers are usually arranged in a radial symmetric pattern called an umbel.

Dicots (Dicotyledoneae Class) are the predominant group of vascular plants on earth. With the exception of the grasses (Monocots) and the Conifers (Gymnosperms), most of the larger plants that one encounters are Dicots. Dicots are characterized by having a seed with two outer shell coverings.

Some of the more primitive Dicots are the typical hardwood trees (oaks, birches, hickories, etc). The more advanced Dicots include many of the Composite (Aster) Family flowers like the Dandelion, Aster, Thistles, and Sunflowers. Although many Monocots reach a very high degree of specialization, most botanists feel that the Dicots represent the most advanced group of plants.

Seed plants (Phylum Embryophyta) are generally grouped into one large phylum containing three major classes: the Gymnosperms, the Monocots, and the Dicots. (Some scientists separate the Gymnosperms into a separate phylum and refer to the remaining plants as flowering plants or Angiospermae.)

For North American counts of the number of species in each genus and family, the primary reference has been John T. Kartesz, author of A Synonymized Checklist of the Vascular Flora of the United States, Canada, and Greenland (1994). The geographical scope of his lists include, as part of greater North America, Hawaii, Alaska, Greenland, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands.

Kartesz lists 21,757 species of vascular plants comprising the ferns, gymnosperms and flowering plants as being found in greater North America (including Alaska, Hawaii, Greenland, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands.

There are estimates within the scientific world that about half of the listed North American seed plants were originally native with the balance being comprised of Eurasian and tropical plants that have become established.