cow-bane

Updated: May 31, 2026

Among names in which the word cow figures may be mentioned the cow-bane, water-hemlock, from its supposed baneful effects upon cows, because, writes Withering, "early in the spring, when it grows in the water, cows often eat it, and are killed by it."

T. F. Thiselton (Thomas Firminger Thiselton) Dyer - The Folk-lore of Plants