In the horse symptoms substantially similar to the above have been recorded (Lander).
In cows, Pott records hæmaturia, and reddish or bitter milk.
Sheep after eating R. repens have been noticed to fall suddenly in the field; their eyes rolled, and some animals showed dizziness, and died with the head inclined over the left flank (Lander).
REFERENCES.
[47], [63], [81], [112], [130], [140], [145], [170], [203], [204], [205], [213], [233], [235].
Marsh Marigold or King-Cup (Caltha palustris L.). Like the species of Ranunculus, the Marsh Marigold is to some extent poisonous in character, and both animals and man have suffered. Cattle have died from eating it, and Müller records the poisoning of many horses, one of which died. In general, animals refuse it, but may possibly eat it when pressed with hunger in times of scarcity of green herbage. Cornevin states that it has little or no acrid properties when very young, but that it is toxic by the time of flowering—acridity increasing with age.
Toxic Principle. The toxic character of the Marsh Marigold has not been fully investigated, though the presence of an alkaloid has been determined, and A. B. Smith states that the toxic properties are due to the alkaloid Jervine (C26H37O3N2H2O) and the glucoside Helleborin (C36H42O6). On drying—e.g. in hay—the plant becomes harmless, as in the case of most species of Ranunculus.
Symptoms. Cornevin records that cattle have died from inflammation of the digestive tract, and gives the symptoms as those of Ranunculus poisoning. There seem to be digestive troubles, diarrhœa, and loss of milk production, even (according to Rusby) when fed with hay. In the horse, there is colic, bloating, and inflammation of the bladder, while the urine is dark red. According to Cornevin, the symptoms are similar to those produced by Ranunculus sp. Pammel quotes Friedberger and Fröhner as stating that the plant causes hæmaturia. Five persons who ate it as a herb were “seized with violent sickness and pain in the abdomen, followed by diarrhœa and general œdematous swelling over the whole body,” but they recovered (Johnson and Sowerby).
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