FIELD ID CHARACTERISTICS:
Extreme caution should be used when handling this plant, as it is highly poisonous if ingested. This is the most common tall white umbel-flowering wetland species east of the Mountains.
Description: Tall, late-branching herb, 1.5 to 2 m tall, with divided, serrated leaves and white umbel flowers.
Leaves: Alternate, divided into numerous lance-shaped leaflets with deeply serrated margins. Stems often purplish.
Flowers/Fruit: Usually numerous, rounded, white-flowered umbels, composed of sub-umbels. Blooms May to August; fruits July to September.
Habit and Range: Marshes, bogs, wet meadows, ditches, swamp and bottomland openings across the state.
COMMON CONFUSIONS:
Cicuta maculata (spotted water hemlock) is similar to Oxypolis rigidior (stiff cowbane), which grows to 1 m in height and has singly divided leaves, with leaflets that are only slightly serrated.
Click here to view Oxypolis rigidior.
Link to side-by-side comparisons page
