cowbane

American  

[kou-beyn] / ˈkaʊˌbeɪn /

noun

1. any of several poisonous plants of the parsley family, as Oxypolis rigidior, of swampy areas of North America, or the water hemlock, Cicuta maculata.

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cowbane British  

/ ˈkaʊˌbeɪn /

noun

1. Also called: water hemlock.  any of several N temperate poisonous umbelliferous marsh plants of the genus Cicuta, esp C. virosa, having clusters of small white flowers

2. a similar and related plant, Oxypolis rigidior of the southeastern and central US

3. any umbelliferous plant reputed to be poisonous to cattle

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Etymology

Origin of cowbane

First recorded in 1770–80; cow ¹ + bane

Example Sentences

“There’s no cowbane for miles. I always check where they graze.”

From "Gone Crazy in Alabama" by Rita Williams-Garcia

Twice or thrice pinnate leaves, toothed like a tenon saw, with conspicuous veins ending in the notches, brand it as the beaver poison, otherwise known as the musquash root and spotted cowbane.

From Some Summer Days in Iowa by Lazell, Frederick John

Poison hemlock, spotted cowbane and Jamestown weed are very poisonous.

From Seeds of Michigan Weeds Bulletin 260, Michigan State Agricultural College Experiment Station, Division of Botany, March, 1910 by Beal, W. J. (William James)

Cicuta, si-kū′ta, n. a genus of umbelliferous plants with poisonous roots—water-hemlock or cowbane.

From Chambers's Twentieth Century Dictionary (part 1 of 4: A-D) by Various

The other ingredients have no marked toxic action, unless 'berle' and 'ache' refer not to the harmless water parsnip but to the poisonous water hemlock or cowbane.

From The Witch-cult in Western Europe A Study in Anthropology by Murray, Margaret Alice