Spermatophytes (seed plants): Angiosperms (flowering plants): Eudicots: Core Eudicots: Asterids: Campanulids: Apiales
WEAKLEY'S FLORA OF THE SOUTHEASTERN US (2/10/25):
Cicuta maculata var. maculata
FAMILY
Apiaceae
Go to FSUS key
Dig deeper at SERNEC, a consortium of southeastern herbaria.
Read more about Cicuta at Vascular Plants of North Carolina.
All parts of the plant, especially the tubers, are dangerously poisonous. Read more in Weakley's Flora (2025).
SYNONYMOUS WITH
PLANTS NATIONAL DATABASE:
Cicuta maculata var. maculata
FAMILY
Apiaceae
SYNONYMOUS WITH Floristic Synthesis of North America. BONAP (Kartesz, 2021)
Cicuta maculata var. maculata
INCLUDING & INCLUDED WITHIN Aquatic & Wetland Plants of Southeastern US (Godfrey & Wooten, 1979 & 1981)
Cicuta maculata
INCLUDING & INCLUDED WITHIN VASCULAR FLORA OF THE CAROLINAS (Radford, Ahles, & Bell, 1968) 140-28-001:
Cicuta maculata FAMILY Apiaceae
INCLUDING Vascular Flora of the Carolinas (Radford, Ahles, & Bell, 1968)
Cicuta mexicana
INCLUDING Manual of the Southeastern Flora (Small, 1933, 1938)
Cicuta curtissii
SYNONYMOUS WITH Flora of North America north of Mexico, vol. 13
Cicuta maculata var. maculata
COMMON NAME:
Water-hemlock, Spotted Cowbane
To see larger pictures, click or hover over the thumbnails.
)
USDA / Selected Weeds of the US. 1970 swus_page_279
)
Frank Bridges fab_cicuta_stem
July Cobb County GA
Chattahoochee River National Recreation Area
Stem smooth, sometimes streaked with purple, per Wildflowers of the Southern Mountains (Smith, 1998).
)
JK Marlow jkm060717_004
July Greenville County SC
Roadside/creekside
Tiny white flowers borne in compound umbels 2-5" wide, per Wildflowers of Tennessee, the Ohio Valley, and the Southern Appalachians (Horn, Cathcart, Hemmerly, & Duhl, 2005).
)
JK Marlow jkm100716_018
July Greenville County SC
A tall branching plant common in wet places, per Wildflowers of the Southern Mountains (Smith, 1998).
)
JK Marlow jkm100716_031
July Greenville County SC
)
JK Marlow jkm100716_034
July Greenville County SC
)
JK Marlow jkm150731_559
July Greenville County SC
The veins of the leaflets end at notches (in Angelica they do not), per Wildflowers of the Eastern United States (Duncan & Duncan, 1999).
COMPARE
leaves of American Lovage, Hairy Angelica and Water Hemlock
)
JK Marlow jkm150731_562
July Greenville County SC
)
JK Marlow jkm150731_563
July Greenville County SC
)
JK Marlow jkm170715_692
July Greenville County SC
)
JK Marlow jkm170715_695
July Greenville County SC
)
JK Marlow jkm170715_698
July Greenville County SC
)
JK Marlow jkm170716_420
July Greenville County SC
)
Richard and Teresa Ware rtw_cicuta_maculata_2
July
)
JK Marlow jkm130823_522
August Greenville County SC
)
JK Marlow jkm160818_598
August Polk County NC
Pearson's Falls
)
JK Marlow jkm130913_289
September Greenville County SC
)
JK Marlow jkm130917_399
September Greenville County SC
)
Steve Marlow snm_macro1_008b
September Greenville County SC
Corky-thickened ribs of mericarp abaxial surface more-or-less equal to oil ducts in the intervals, per Weakley's Flora (2025).
WEAKLEY'S FLORA OF THE SOUTHEASTERN US (2/10/25):
Cicuta maculata var. maculata
FAMILY
Apiaceae
SYNONYMOUS WITH
PLANTS NATIONAL DATABASE:
Cicuta maculata var. maculata
FAMILY
Apiaceae
SYNONYMOUS WITH
Floristic Synthesis of North America. BONAP (Kartesz, 2021)
Cicuta maculata var. maculata
INCLUDING & INCLUDED WITHIN
Aquatic & Wetland Plants of Southeastern US (Godfrey & Wooten, 1979 & 1981)
Cicuta maculata
INCLUDING & INCLUDED WITHIN
VASCULAR FLORA OF THE CAROLINAS (Radford, Ahles, & Bell, 1968) 140-28-001:
Cicuta maculata
FAMILY
Apiaceae
INCLUDING
Vascular Flora of the Carolinas (Radford, Ahles, & Bell, 1968)
Cicuta mexicana
INCLUDING
Manual of the Southeastern Flora (Small, 1933, 1938)
Cicuta curtissii
SYNONYMOUS WITH
Flora of North America north of Mexico, vol. 13
Cicuta maculata var. maculata
326
Forb
Perennial
Habitat: marshes, bogs, seepages, fens, ditches, swamp forests, per Weakley's Flora
Native to the Carolinas & Georgia
Common (uncommon in GA Coastal Plain)
CLICK HERE to see a map, notes, and images from Weakley's Flora of the Southeastern US.
LEAVES:
Complexly compound, with 2+ levels of pinnate and/or ternate compoundness
Alternate
FLOWER:
Spring/Summer
White
Radially symmetrical
5-merous
Inferior ovary
Flowers in compound umbels
FRUIT:
Summer/Fall
Schizocarp of two mericarps
TO LEARN MORE about this plant, look it up in a good book!
- Guide to the Wildflowers of SC, 1st ed. (Porcher & Rayner, 2001) p325
- Guide to the Wildflowers of SC, 2nd ed. (McMillan, Porcher, Rayner, & White; 2022) p468
- Newcomb's Wildflower Guide (Newcomb, 1977) p222
- Wildflowers of the Atlantic Southeast (Cotterman, Waitt, & Weakley, 2019) p147
- Wildflowers of the Carolina Lowcountry (Porcher, 1995) p100
- Wildflowers of the Eastern United States (Duncan & Duncan, 1999) p060
- Field Guide to the Wildflowers of Georgia (Chafin, 2016) p031
- Wildflowers of Tennessee (Carman, 2005) p175
- Wildflowers of Tennessee, the Ohio Valley, and the Southern Appalachians (Horn, Cathcart, Hemmerly, & Duhl, 2005) p211
- Wildflowers of the Southern Mountains (Smith, 1998) p117
- Wildflowers of the Sandhills Region (Sorrie, 2011) p242
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