False hellebore (corn lily)
Veratrum californicum
- Plant type
- forb
- Settings
- Riparian and wet ground
- Risk
- High risk Our rating from the cited sources.
- Review
- Not yet reviewed by a veterinarian.
Photos
Planned.
How to tell it
Tall plant, 5 to 6 ft, with large leaves 8 to 12 in long and cream flowers clustered at the top of a single stalk like corn; damp meadows and seeps (ARS).
Look-alikes: Planned.
What to do on a site walk
- Fence off or keep bred does off moist meadows during early gestation.
Why it matters
- Toxic principle
- Steroidal alkaloids (cyclopamine and others)
- Toxic parts
- All parts; roots highest
- Basis for our rating
- Chewgrass rating. ARS: affects goats; causes birth defects when eaten early in pregnancy.
Signs in goats
Frothing, vomiting, odd gait, slow heart and breathing. Deformed kids, including one-eyed (cyclopic) kids, when does eat it early in pregnancy (ARS).
If you think an animal has been poisoned, call your vet right away.
Season
Flowers in mid to late summer and sets seed in early fall; goats and sheep readily eat the leaves and tops (ARS).
Sources
- USDA ARS Poisonous Plant Research Lab: False Hellebore
- Second source (poisonousplants.ansci.cornell.edu)
Links last checked: 2026-10-31