Alan Chapman., Age 10, Of Jeannette, Pa., for his question:

What is wolfsbane?

This weed of the wilds has been a menace to the cattle of Europe for many centuries. It is a poisonous plant known in many lands under a dozen different aliases. In the new world it grows along the roadsides and climbs high among the western mountains, and some of its flossy cousins grow in our gardens.

Sensible young people, of course, never nibble wild weeds or bite into juicy wild berries. But cattle, birds and many other animals must depend upon wild vegetation for their daily food. And sometimes the unlucky ones eat a poisonous plant by accident. One of the most dangerous of these wild weeds is the wolfsbane, alias the monkshood. It is a pretty plant with ferry, fresh green foilage, growing two to three feet tall. Its blossoms look like fancy, frilled bonnets nodding at the ends of dozens of slender stems.

Our native wolfsbane or monkshood has a host of handsome cousins both wild and tame. They include frilly columbines of buttercup yellow and violet blue. Some are scarlet and some are mixtures of pink and creamy gold. Its domesticated cousins are the lacy larkspurs and the blue eyed delphiniums that adorn our gardens with their f1owery spires. The flowers of the garden columbines may be a little larger and perhaps more colorful than their wild cousins.

All these attractive plants are close relatives of the wild wolfsbane that was known centuries ago in europe. All of them, like this ancient enemy of the grass eating cattle, bear poisonous chelnicals, especially in their roots. Soit1eumes the seeds of garden columbines spread to the wilds and thrive where they can become a threat to the animals that feed on grasses.and other low growing vegetation.

The name wolfsbane means wolf ki11er    but the meat eating wolf is not likely to be ki11ed by eating a poisonous plant. In the dark ages, peop1e feared witches and werewolves, and sprigs of wolfsbane were believed to ward off these mythical monsters.  We shall never know whether this trick worked because there never were any real werewo1ves to threaten people with any real harm.

In Europe the treacherous wolfsbane kept its name long after werewo1ves and other witches went out of style. It was also called the monkshood because its nodding blossoms resembled the hooded cowls worn by the monks of the midd1e ages. Our native monkshood is a b1ue flower of the western mountains, sometimes ca11ed the blue rocket or the friar's cap.