v.Doc. Canada. Agriculture, Dept.of,
Experimental Farms

Bulletin. Second series.

No. 39 [Principal poisonous
plants of Canada, by
Faith Fyles. 1920.]

100
C. F.

f

DOMINION OF CANADA

DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE

DOMINION EXPERIMENTAL FARMS

Principal
Poisonous Plants of Canada

By
FAITH FYLES, B.A.

ASSISTANT BOTANIST

Bulletin No. 39 i

A-

Published by direction of HON S. F. TOLMIE, Minister of
Agriculture, Ottawa, Ont.

OTTAWA

J. DE LABROQUERIE TACHfi,
PRINTER TO THE KING'S MOST EXCELLENT MAJESTY

1920
63463—1

The Honourable,

The Minister of Agriculture,
Ottawa.

SIR, — I have the honour to transmit herewith the manuscript of
Bulletin 39 of the Second Series, on Poisonous Plants.

This bulletin has been prepared by Miss Faith Fyles, Assistant
Botanist, and is profusely illustrated from drawings made by the author.
These, with the many careful descriptions given of the various poisonous
plants, make the bulletin a valuable one to those engaged in botanical
studies.

The main object in its publication, however, is to give the farmer and
stock-raiser a means of recognizing and identifying such poisonous plants
as may occur on his pastures and ranges. Symptoms of poisoning by these
plants are also described and methods of treatment indicated.

It is hoped that the bulletin will do much to lessen the present heavy
a,nnual loss among the various classes of live stock from the above cause*

I have the honour to be, Sir,

Your obedient servant,

E. S. ARCHIBALD,
May 14, 1919. Director Dominion Experimental Farms.

63463— H iii

Fruiting Plant of Canada
Moonseed, and Seed.

CONTENTS

PAGE

Introduction . 1

General Hints for the Eradication of Poisonous Plants 2

Plants Poisonous to different animals 3

Ergot Family (Hypocreacece) 4

Fern Family (Polypodiacece) 9

Horsetail Family (Equisetacece) 11

Grass Family (Grdminece) 13

Arum Family (Aracece) 18

Lily Family (Liliacece) 21

Iris Family (Iridacece) 26

Nettle Family (UrticaceoK) 27

Pokeweed Family (Phytolaccaceoe) 30

Pink Family (Caryophyllacece) 32

Buttercup Family (Ranunculaceoe) 35

Moonseed Family (Menispermacece) 45

Barberry Family (Berberidacece) 47

Poppy Family (Papaveracece) 51

Pulse or Pea Family (Leguminosce) 54

Spurge Family (Euphorbiaceoe) 59

Cashew Family (Anacardiaceai) 62

Mezereum Family (Thymelaeacece) 65

Parsley or Carrot Family (Umbelliferce) 68

Heath Fa nily (Ericaceae) 78

Dogbane Family (ApocynacecB) 80

Milkweed Family (Asclepiadacece) . 82

Mint Family (Labiatce) 84

Nightshade or Potato Family (Solanaceoe) 86

Lobelia Family (Lobeliaceos) 95

Composite or Thistle Family (Compositoe) 98

Bibliography 105

Index. . 107

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

PAGE

Frontispiece — Canada Moonseed iv

Key of leaves vii-xi

Ergot » . ". To face page 4

Bracken " " " 9

Horsetail " " "* 12

Darnel " " " 15

Grasses causing mechanical injury •. " " " 17

Jack-in-the-pulpit " " " 18

False Hellebore " " " 20

Death Camas " " " 20

Smooth Camas " " " 25

Slender Nettle Between pages 27-30

Wood Nettle " " 27-30

Poison Poke To face page 30

Purple Cockle Between pages 28-29

Cow Cockle To face page 35

Pasque Flower " " " 36

Larkspur " " " 41

Red Baneberry " " " 42

Canada Moonseed " " " 47

Blue Cohosh " " " 49

May Apple " " " 51

Bloodroot " " " 52

Celandine " " " 52

Lupine " " " 54

Locoweed " " " 60

Poison Ivy " " " 62

Wicopy : " " " 67

Poison Hemlock " " " 68

Water Hemlock " " " 73

Bulbous Water Hemlock Between pages 73-76

Western Water Hemlock " " 73-76

Water Parsnip To face page 76

Spreading Dogbane " " " 80

Swamp Milkweed " " " 82

Ground Ivy " " " 84

Bittersweet Nightshade . " " " 86

Common Nightshade " " " 88

Henbane " " " 90

Thorn Apple " " " 92

Indian Tobacco " " " 97

White Snakeroot " " " 98

Sneezeweed " " " 103

Ragwort " " " 104

vi

Vll

KEY OF LEAVES

/3

1, Jack-in-the-pulpit; 2, Green Dragon; 3, Arrow Arum; 4, Water Arum; 5, Skunk Cab-
bage; 6, Death Camas; 7, Smooth Camas; 8, False Hellebore; 9, Blue Flag; 10, Slender
Nettle; 11, Western Nettle; 12, Wood Nettle; 13, Poison Poke; 14, Purple Cockle; 15, Cow
Cockle.

VI 11

1, Cursed Crowfoot; 2, Tall Buttercup; 3, Small-flowered Buttercup; 4, Smaller Spear-
wort; 5, Pasque Flower; 6, Marsh Marigold; 7, Different types of leaves of Low Larkspur;
8, Different types of leaves of Tall Larkspur; 9, White Baneberry; 10, Different types of
leaves of Canada Moonseed; 11, Blue Cohosh.

IX

1, May Apple; 2, Blood-root; 3, Celandine; 4, Locoweed; 5, Lupine; 6, Sun-Spurge; 7,
Cypress Spurge; 8, Poison Ivy; 9, Poison Sumach; 10, Wicopy; 11, Mezereon.

1, Poison Hemlock; 2, Water Hemlock; 3, Water Parsnip; 4, Mountain Laurel; 5, Sheep
Laurel; 6, Swamp or Pale Laurel; 7, Spreading Dogbane; 8, Black Indian Hemp; 9, Butterfly
Weed; 10, Swamp Milkweed; 11, Common Milkweed; 12, Oval-leaved Milkweed.

XI

1, Ground Ivy; 2, Bittersweet; 3, Three-flowered Nightshade; 4, Common Nightshade;
5, Black Henbane; 6, Thorn Apple; 7, Indian Tobacco; 8, Great Lobelia; 9, White Snakeroot;
10, Sneezeweed; 11, Ragwort.

INTRODUCTION

The subject of poisonous plants is at all times naturally one of very
great importance in every agricultural country, particularly in a country
of such vast extent of fertile land as ours. It is more so, at the present
time when the world-wide cry for food has turned the thoughts and inten-
tions of farmer3 and stockowners to the necessity for greater production.
In this greater effort, there is the danger of pasturage being restricted and
overstocked and animals forced to eat plants they would otherwise avoid .

Although the yearly loss due to plant-poisoning is known to be on
the increase, the amount of the loss is not ascertainable, owing to the fact
that many fatalities are attributed to other causes through lack of knowl-
edge and available literature. A knowledge of poisonous plants and the
ability to distinguish the most harmful species in his neighbourhood are
highly essential to every owner of live stock, so that he may be enabled
to avoid pasturing animals on infested areas until the danger is past.
This publication has been prepared with this end in view, as well as for
the use of the general public and students interested in the subject. The
descriptions and illustrations, it is hoped, will be of service in this con-
nection.

Wherever possible, all scientific terms have been translated into
ordinary English, and the most familiar of the common names given.
The scientific names and synonyms of each species, as well as the scientific
names of the families, have been inserted for the greater convenience of
teachers and science masters. The symptoms have been given to assist
veterinary surgeons in diagnosing cases of poisoning.

Since, in every case of severe poisoning, whether of human beings or
animals, professional advice should be promptly summoned, no attempt
has been made to cover remedial measures; but a few suggestions useful
in emergencies have been given here and there. For general treatment of
animals a supply of permanganate of potash and aluminum sulph'ate
(alum) should be kept on hand. These drugs are inexpensive and may
be obtained at any druggist's. A well-dissolved equal portion of each
should be administered at the earliest possible moment after poisoning.

As this publication is the first of its kind in Canada, and as the infor-
mation contained has been gathered from widely scattered sources, there
is still a very great deal to be learned in regard to Canadian poisonous
plants. For this reason it is hoped that all interested will send in suspi-
cious plants for identification, to the Experimental Farm, Ottawa.

GENERAL HINTS FOR THE ERADICATION OF
POISONOUS PLANTS

Wherever plants known to be poisonous are found, some effort should
be made to destroy them, or prevent at least their multiplication. In
most cases they may be simply dealt with as weeds, as annuals, biennials,
or perennials.

ANNUALS: Annuals, which produce their flowers and seeds in one
season, have no other means of propagation than seeds. Therefore any
method, best chosen by the individual farmer, which will prevent the
production of seeds will exterminate the plant. As the purple cockle,
cursed crowfoot and Indian tobacco are all annuals, much loss may be
avoided by mere hand-pulling or cutting when these plants are in flower.

BIENNIALS: Biennials, which bloom and ripen their seeds the second
year, may be treated as annuals as far as the production of seed is con-
cerned. They will eventually succumb to continued close cutting or to
the use of the hoe or spud. Thorough cultivation and drainage where
necessary is the better method on large and badly infested areas.

PERENNIALS: Perennials are propagated both by seeds and by under-
ground rootstocks, bulbs, or tubers. The prevention of seed production
is quite as important as the destruction of the underground portion of the
plant, in many cases, more so, as the numerous light seeds borne to fresh
soil will in time produce many more new plants than is possible by the
division of the rootstocks. But in other cases, as for instance the water
hemlocks, the portion in the soil is the most deadly, and any small piece
uprooted and eaten by stock will result in death in a few minutes. Thus
it is necessary for the extermination of the species and the safety of human
beings as well as animals to destroy all portions of poisonous perennials
by the quickest means possible.

SPRAYING: Chemical sprays may be used to advantage; they are
economical and effective in most cases. Plants with rough leaves are
most susceptible, as the spray clings to the surface more readily. Smooth
leaves shed the spray before it has time to take full effect. The spray
should be applied in a fine mist on a bright clear day when there is no
likelihood of rain undoing the work. Spraying is most effective when the
plants are young and succulent, that is, just before they flower or in their
first bloom.

COMMON SALT OR SODIUM CHLORIDE: Common salt is one of the
cheapest and safest sprays to use. It is most destructive when applied
in hot dry weather, as it absorbs the moisture from the plants and the
surrounding soil to such an extent that the plants die of thirst. A solution
of 150 pounds to 60 gallons of water may be used, or where all vegetation
is to be destroyed it may be applied in the form of hot brine, of such a
strength as to show crystals on its surface.

CAUSTIC SODA OR SODIUM HYDROXIDE: This chemical is especially
useful in destroying poisonous plants on waste ground or places where
vegetation is negligible for a season. It may be used with good effect on
poison ivy, spreading dogbane, and similar deeply rooted weeds. A
5-per cent solution, or one pound caustic soda to two gallons of water, is
sufficiently strong for ordinary purposes. All other vegetation will be
checked until this chemical is washed out of the soil.

IRON SULPHATE OR COPPERAS : Copperas is comparatively inexpensive
and may be used on poisonous plants which may be growing among grain,
grass, or pea crops. It will do no harm to these crops, but cannot be used
where beans are planted. Clover and alfalfa plants are blackened by it,
but they will quickly recover if the solution has not been too strong. The
usual solution is obtained by dissolving 100 pounds copperas in 52 gallons
of water, which quantity is sufficient for one acre of herbage.

COPPER SULPHATE OR BLUESTONE: Bluestone is more expensive, but
a far less quantity will serve the same purpose. From 8 to 12 pounds is
sufficient for 52 gallons of water. Both copperas and bluestone spraying
should be done in clear, hot weather, when rain is not expected for at least
twenty-four hours.

The following list, in each case, does not include all the plants that
are poisonous to the different animals, but only those through which most
loss has been suffered.

HORSES: Ergot, bracken, horsetail, darnel, purple cockle, locoweed,
water hemlock.

CATTLE: Ergot, bracken, darnel, purple cockle, cursed crowfoot,
larkspur, locoweed, poison hemlock, water hemlock, water parsnip, laurel,
white snakeroot, ragwort.

• SHEEP : Ergot, darnel, death camas, purple cockle, pasque flower,
lupine, locoweed, poison hemlock, water hemlock, laurel, white snakeroot.

SWINE: Darnel, purple cockle, water hemlock.

POULTRY: Ergot, darnel, purple cockle, and other injurious seeds in
screenings.

ERGOT FAMILY (Hypocreacece)

ERGOT OF RYE (Spermosdia Claims [D.C.] Fries.)
(Claviceps pur pur ea Tul.)

PLATE I.

COMMON NAMES : Ergot of rye is generally known and spoken of as
ergot; but occasionally in European literature, reference is found to "spur
kernels," "blight kernels," and "spurred rye."

DESCRIPTION: Ergot is a form of a fungus parasitic on grasses, one of
the best known species being that found on rye< The fungus is most
easily recognized in the second stage of its development, when the hard,
dark purple or almost black masses (sclerotia) are seen at intervals on the
heads of rye, where they have usurped the position of the seed of their
host. These sclerotia, or ergots, as they are popularly called, may be
observed from June till late in the autumn, according to the nature of the
species of ergot and host plant. In the autumn, they fall to the ground
and remain in a resting stage throughout the winter. When the warm
weather begins again, they show signs of awakening life by the appearance
of small cracks, through which diminutive stalked bodies (stromata) make
their way. Iix the head of the stroma are numerous flask-shaped cavities
(perithecia) each of which contains a number of narrow cells (asci) and
each of these in its turn contains eight thread-like spores or reproductive
bodies. The mature spores escape from the perithecia about the time of
flowering of the host plant, rye or grass, as the case may be. When a
spore falls into a floret of a suitable host plant, it develops a so-called
mycelium, and a honey-like substance called "honeydew" is abundantly
produced. The honeydew exudes in large glistening drops from the floret.
This sweet substance, which is eagerly sought by midges, flies and other
insects, is filled with very minute microscopic bodies (conidia), another
reproductive form of the fungus. The conidia are capable of immediate
germination and are carried by insects to other plants. Thus what is
known as "ergot disease" spreads rapidly, throughout the flowering season
of its host. The mycelial threads continue to develop, and in time form
a dark compact mass two or three times the size of the seed of the host
plant. This new ergot eventually falls to the ground and the life cycle is
complete.

DISTRIBUTION AND HOST PLANTS: Dr. Staeger, of Berne, Switzerland,
has firmly established the fact that each species of ergot has its own circle
of hosts within which it moves exclusively. He has shown by successful
experiments carried on for a number of years past, that ergot of rye will
infect barley and the following grasses:

Reed canary grass (Phalaris arundinacea L.) ;
Sweet vernal grass (Anthoxanthum odoratum L.);
Sweet or holy grass (Hierochloe odorata [L.] Wahlenb.) ;
Meadow foxtail (Alopecurus pratensis L.);

PLATE I.

Ergot on grasses.

Photo— F. Fyies.

63463—2

6

Tall oat grass (Arrhenatherum elatius [L.J Beauv.) ;
Orchard grass (Dactylis glomerata L.) ;
Quaking grass (Briza media L.) ;
Canadian blue grass (Poa compressa L.) ;
Kentucky blue grass (Poa pr'atensis L.) ;
Meadow fescue (Festuca elatior L.) ;
Reed fescue (Festuca arundinacea Schreb.) ;
Barren brome grass (Bromus sterilis L.) j1

He has also shown that ergots grown on any of these grasses which
have been infected by ergot of rye are in their turn capable of infecting
rye and barley. This is a very important point for the agriculturist. For
instance, if holy grass infected with ergot is left to mature, the ergots will
drop to the ground and repeat their work in the spring. There will then
be still fresh honeydew on the holy grass (which is early blooming) when
the first heads of rye or barley come into bloom. The rye and barley in;i\
then be contaminated, and from them the honeydew will be borne to
later-blooming fodder grasses, and so on through a continuous chain of
harm.

POISONOUS PROPERTIES: The most important of the many constitu-
ents lately isolated from ergot is the very highly potent alkaloid ergotoxim .
which with other harmful principles causes a disease known as ergotism.

ANIMALS AFFECTED: Ergot is poisonous to all domestic animals.
Ewart states that "a comparatively small number of fresh ergot grains
suffice to injure or kill a horse, cow, or sheep." It is a well-known cause
of abortion.

HUMAN POISONING: Human beings have been poisoned byo ergot from
very early days, chiefly, however, in those countries where rye bread is
used. The ergot is ground up with the grain, and the flour is thus rendered
unfit for food.

SYMPTOMS : The symptoms of ergot poisoning have been well described
by J. H. McNeil, as follows: —

"Ergot stimulates the nerve centres that cause the contraction of the
small blood vessels supplying the different parts of the body, and cause
one of the two forms of ergotism, viz., a nervous /orm and a gangrenous
form.

"Nervous Ergotism: In this form the contraction of the blood vessels
of the brain produces dullness and depression. The animal also suffers
from gastro-intestinal catarrh, refuses food, and gradually passes into a
condition of general wasting. The nervous form, however, may assume
an entirely different aspect, and the animal dies suddenly in delirium or
spasms, or gradually from paralysis.

'Ergot has been found on the following grasses in the West: Agropyron Smilhii,
Deschampsia cceypilosa, Agropyron tenerum, Agropyron repens, Calamagrostis hyperborea
elongala, Bromus inermis.

It is impossible to say, until further study has been made, whether this ergot is
identical with the ergot of rye, or whether it may be one or more new species typical
of the West.

7

"Gangrenous Ergotism: In this common form, the checking of the
blood, resulting from the contraction of the small blood vessels, causes
a loss of a part or of all the limb below the knee or hock, of the tail or the
ears. The form of the disease may manifest itself by the formation of
ulcers at the top of the hoof or between the toes, and a toe may be lost or
the entire hoof shed. The affected part dries, a small furrow or line of
separation appears, completely surrounding the limb, dividing the living
from the dead mummified tissue."

We are indebted to the Veterinary Director-General at Ottawa for
the following reports of recent ergot poisoning in Alberta presented by one
of his inspectors, Dr. W. H. McKenzie: —

January 4, 1915. — I have inspected ninety head of cattle, twelve of
which were suffering from ergotism. Necrosis of the inferior third of the
tail, about one inch of the superior extremity of the ear, and both hind
feet, was observed in one animal. In two others, both hind feet had
sloughed off at the pastern joint, in another an indented ring circumscribing
the hind leg about six inches above the fetlock joint, below which the
tissue was gangrenous, in three one claw was absent. The other visibly
affected animals exhibited swellings and lameness in one or both hind
fetlocks. Animals had access to stacks of rye straw since about the
first of November. Owner advises that first symptoms were observed
on or about the first of December."

Five animals had already succumbed to the effects of the poison before
the inspection of Dr. McKenzie. Receiving information of a similar case
in the same neighbourhood, Dr. McKenzie inspected thirty-four cattle.

"Six animals were found to be showing the effects of this poison, being
lame, having enlarged fetlock joints, and showing a pronounced tendency
to resume the recumbent position. The grain bins and rye stack were
examined and a considerable quantity of ergot found. The animals in
question had been fed on rye straw for about four weeks, and a slight
lameness was first observed ten days ago. I was informed that a neighbour
who fed rye to pregnant sows had 28 abortions. All rye straw was burned,
and owner instructed to thoroughly clean the rye grain before feeding
same."

REMEDY AND MEANS OF CONTROL: In the case of ergot poisoning the
best remedies are preventive. Care should be taken that no ergotised
grain is sown. All grasses bearing ergot, wherever seen, should be cut
and burnt. During the flowering season, there should be a vigilant search
for heads showing the glistening honeydew. These infected heads should
be gathered at once, taking care not to brush them against other grasses.
Remember one drop of honeydew contains enough conidia to infect a
whole acre of rye. Burn all ergotised hay, and clean thoroughly all barns
and stalls where it has been stored. Should animals show symptoms of
poisoning, their food should be changed at once, and the assistance of a
veterinary surgeon should be procured.

63463— 2J

PLATE II.

Bracken.

Pkoto—F. Fyles.

FERN FAMILY (Polypodiacea)

BRACKEN (Pteris aquilina L.)

(Pteridium aquilinum [L] Kuhn.)

PLATE II.

COMMON NAMES: This plant is seldom known by any other name
than common brake or bracken, sometimes modified to lady-bracken,
fern-brake, or hog-brake.

DESCRIPTION: The bracken is a coarse fern with a creeping, woody,
almost black rootstock. The stalk of the frond or leaf is from one to three
feet high, and the blade measures from one to three feet across by two to
four feet in length. The stalk, with maturity, becomes straw-coloured, or
brownish, stiff, stout, ridged, swollen at the base. The blade is dull green,
the general outline triangular, the widely spreading branches twice pinnate.
In the spring the young leaves are bent over at the top and curled in. The
oblong obtuse lobes are strongly outlined by the reflexed margin which
forms, in this case, a second indusium or covering to the spore-cases. As
the spore-cases develop, they push aside the outer indusium and, fitted
close together in several rows, they form quite a distinct golden-brown
margin to the underside of each lobe. The spores, or reproductive
bodies, are ready for dissemination from July to September. The spore-
cases open with a snap, and the spores, light and easily carried by the
wind, are scattered far and wide. When they reach the moist earth they
germinate, but the germinated spores do not produce a true fern-plant.
They give rise to another stage of its life, a small flat, green body (pro-
thallus). On the underside of the prothallus are tiny organs whose union
results in the development of a true fern-plant, which in its turn produces
spores and thus completes the life cycle.

DISTRIBUTION: Common in thickets, on hillsides, and in sandy soil
from the Atlantic to the Pacific.

POISONOUS PROPERTIES: The toxic principles of bracken have not
yet been fully investigated, but it has been shown by experiment that the
action of the poison is cumulative.

ANIMALS AFFECTED : The experiments carried on by Hadwen in British
Columbia (1917) proved that the ingestion of dried bracken was the cause
of a disease among horses known as "staggers." He says: "During the
hard winter of 1915-16 the mortality amongst horses in the Fraser valley
and on Vancouver Island was very heavy. As an extreme instance we
cite the following: 'In the little village of St. Elmo, B.C., out of twenty-
four horses owned by eleven farmers, sixteen died of bracken poisoning,

10

four recovered, and the balance (four) did not take the disease.' The
horses attacked are usually those that receive the minimum amount of
care, but well-cared-for, greedy horses may contract the disease through
eating their bedding, which often consists of bracken which has been left
in their mangers." Hadwen also reports the poisoning of two horses from
eating green bracken in a pasture where other vegetation was scarce. One
of the horses died. Chesnut and Wilcox (1901) state that "Cases of
poisoning of horses and cattle by this plant have been reported from
England and from a few localities in the United States." Pott also refers
to the poisoning of cattle by eating bracken in quantity. Stockman (1917)
experimented with a bull-calf by feeding it freshly cut bracken for a period
of twenty-nine days. The calf was found dead on the thirtieth day.

SYMPTOMS: The first general signs of poisoning as given by Hachvcn
are, an unsteady gait, good appetite, animal inclined to constipation, eye
congested, flanks tucked up, nervousness. In the later stages if the head
is raised the horse may fall. It stands with the legs spread, and has a
distinctly intoxicated look. Greedy horses are most liable to attack.

Mueller, in reference to fatal poisoning among horses, gives the symp-
toms as timidity, slower movement or action, loss of balance, dilated pupils,
reddening followed by yellowing of the conjunctive, and slowing of the
pulse.

REMEDY AND MEANS OF CONTROL: In all cases of poisoning, profes-
sional advice should be obtained. The treatment recommended by Hadwen
to the farmer who is unable to obtain such aid is as follows: First remove
all ferny hay and bedding. Give a quart of raw linseed oil, taking especial
care that none falls into the lungs. Give good clean hay, warm bran
mashes, and roots. The horse should be kept as quiet as possible, owing
to its nervous excitability. Warmth is of aid in combatting the affection,
whilst a cold, draughty stable tends to lower the vitality.

Ploughing and manuring is one of the best methods of exterminating
bracken. The deep-lying rootstocks will not all be destroyed the first
year, but after two or three years of thorough cultivation, very few if any
will be found.

On steep hillsides and pastures where tillage would be out of the
question, cutting the green tops off will in time starve the rootstocks,
particularly if a good dressing of lime is applied to the soil immediately
after the cutting. The lime serves as a check to the bracken and also as
an encouragement to the growth of grasses. In regard to the best time
for cutting, Thomas Tusser wrote in 1557: —

" In June and in August, as well doth appeere
Is best to mowe Brakes of all times of the yeere."

11

HORSETAIL FAMILY (Equisetacea)

COMMON OR FIELD HORSETAIL (Equisetum arvense L.)
PLATE III (To face page 12).

COMMON NAMES: Among the popular names of horsetail are the
following, which are typical and descriptive: pine-top, meadow-pine,
scouring rush, bottle brush, snake-pipes, jointed rush, and cornfield horse-
tail.

DESCRIPTION: The horsetails or scouring rushes are a group of
perennial plants intermediate between the ferns and club-mosses. Like
the ferns they possess a more or less branching, creeping rootstock which
persists from year to year and sends out new shoots each year. The
rootstock of the field horsetail develops also short tuber-like branches,
which act as storehouses of reserve material. As in some of the ferns, the
rootstock sends up two distinct kinds of leaf-shoots, a fertile and a sterile
shoot, each of which is distinctly jointed and hollow. The fertile stems,
which bear the spores, or reproductive bodies, appear early in May, before
the sterile or vegetative shoots have yet unfolded.. They are from four
to ten inches high, usually unbranched, light-brown, with darker brown,
scale-like leaves arranged in circles at each joint or node. At the apex
of each fertile stem is a group of sporophylls known as the cone, from which
the spores fall to the ground and produce new plants. The spores are
round, and each is furnished with two spiral bands or elaters (so attached
as to appear to be four) which assist in its dispersal. The sterile stems
are from four to twenty inches high, bright green, grooved, with angled,
solid branches.

DISTRIBUTION: The field horsetail is native to Canada, and is found
in gravelly or sandy soil from Newfoundland to Alaska.

POISONOUS PROPERTIES: The harmfulness of field horsetail has for
many years been the subject of much discussion and difference of opinion,
but in Canada it was found to be the cause of much loss (see Dominion
Experimental Farms Reports 1910, p. 200, 1912, p. 210-11.) The toxic
principle has not been determined.

ANIMALS AFFECTED: Horses suffer most from eating this weed in the
hay, particularly young horses. It is also known to be injurious to sheep,
but there is a difference of opinion as to its effect upon cattle. The weed
does not appear to be as poisonous when eaten in a green state. This may
be due to the laxative properties of other fresh food eaten at the same
time, or to the fact that the plant is not as common in pastures as in
meadows and, in consequence, is not eaten to the same extent. Animals
grazing in pastures containing horsetail, should be watched and removed
from the field of danger at the first symptoms of poisoning.

12

SYMPTOMS: The first general symptoms are a certain excitement,
unthriftiness, diarrhoea, good appetite; later, staggering gait, partial
loss of motive power, craving for the weed, pulse accelerated, respiration
difficult, sometimes convulsions and death or a state of unconsciousness
and coma. Sometimes the attack is very acute, death occurring in a few
hours; usually, however, the disease lasts from a few days to several
weeks.

REMEDY AND MEANS OF CONTROL: The first and most important
thing to be done is to change the food. Remove all hay and bedding
containing equisetum. Administer a purgative, as raw linseed oil or
aloes, to remove any undigested portion of the plant, and give stimulants,
camphor, or powdered nux vomica with grain feed three times a day.
Blisters along the spine are beneficial (Friedberger and Frohner). In
severe cases, slings should be used to support the animal before it loses
the power to stand. If this treatment is begun in time, the animals will
recover in practically all cases.

This weed may be held in control by draining, enriching, and culti-
vating the ground. It thrives best in sandy or gravelly soil that is wet
in the spring and early summer, or where the underlying water is not far
from the surface of the soil. Good drainage and good cultivation will
eventually exterminate it as, although the rootstocks lie lower than the
depth of ordinary cultivation, they will starve if the green food-producing
shoots are kept cut.

Field Horse -tail
a= Sterile stem,
b = Pert He

13

GRASS FAMILY (Gramineae)

DARNEL (Lolium temulentum L.)
PLATE IV.

COMMON NAMES: Darnel is also called poison-darnel, white darnel,
bearded darnel, and tare. The French name for it is "Ivraie," derived
from "ivre" meaning drunken, as when brewed with barley it acts as an
intoxicant.

DESCRIPTION: Darnel is an annual grass. It has smooth simple
stems from two to four feet high. The leaf blades are four to ten inches
long and about one-quarter inch wide, rough on the upper surface and
smooth on the lower. The flower, spike is four to twelve inches long, with
four to eight flowers to each spikelet, which fits tightly into a slight curve
on either side of the stalk. The seed is about the size of a small grain of
wheat, it is rounded at each end, with a shallow groove on the inner surface,
and is closely covered by two scales, the outer one usually possessing a
short awn. The kernel itself is greenish, tinged with brown or purple.
It is in bloom from June to August. Darnel is very closely related to
English and Italian rye grasses, but may be readily distinguished from
both in having no leafy shoots from the base, and consequently it does
not grow in tufts or bunches.

DISTRIBUTION: Introduced from Europe, it is now scattered through-
out Canada on cultivated ground and waste places in New Brunswick,
the Prairie Provinces and on the Pacific coast.

POISONOUS PROPERTIES: The injurious effect of darnel has been
recognized since early scriptural days, as there is no doubt it was really
the tares which the enemy sowed among the wheat. There are also many
references to it in the classics; Ovid says "Let the fields be clear of darnel
that weakens the eyes." It is referred to in one of Shakespeare's plays
as spoiling the bread, and in the same connection Gerarde (1597) says:
"The new bread wherein darnell is, eaten hot, causeth drunkenness; in
like manner doth beere or ale wherein the seede is fallen, or put into the
mault."

The toxic principle seems to be only in the seed or grain itself, and has
been determined as a narcotic alkaloid temuline, which Hofmeister has
shown to be a strong nerve poison. Other authorities give different toxic
principles, and some refer the cause of injury to a fungus which infests
the seed. Esser concludes that according to most authorities who have
investigated darnel the fungus alone contains the toxic substance — the
temuline — and hence the grains in which the fungus does not occur should
be harmless. H. C. Long, in referring to Esser's work, says: "So far as

PLATE IV.

Darnel.

Photo— F.

15

can be ascertained, there have been no feeding experiments to determine
the difference in toxic character between fungus-infested and fungus-free
grains. The dangerous properties are said to be most pronounced in wet

seasons."

ANIMALS AFFECTED: The "Veterinarian," 1842, reports the poisoning
of pigs from eating darnel mixed with barley. Fatalities among horses
and sheep have been recorded by Johnson and Sowerby (1861). Cornevin
gives the amounts of darnel necessary to kill certain animals as follows: —

Horse 0.7 pounds per 100 pounds live weight

Ruminants 1 . 5 to 1 . 8 pounds per 100 pounds live weight

Poultry 1 .5 to 1 .8 pounds per 100 pounds live weight

Dog 1.8 pound per 100 pounds live weight

HUMAN POISONING: The chief danger to human beings lies in the
difficulty of sifting darnel from wheat and other cereals of much the same
sized grain. Ground up with the flour in this way, it has caused many
cases of human poisoning, .although not fatal. A case is quoted by Johnson
and Sowerby in which eighty inmates of Sheffield workhouse (England)
were affected with violent vomiting and purging after eating oatmeal
containing darnel.

SYMPTOMS: Darnel poisoning induces giddiness, drowsiness, uncertain
gait, and stupefacation (Mueller), and in the older animals, vomiting,
convulsions, loss of sensation, and death (Pott). The symptoms in the horse
are dilation of the pupils, vertigo, uncertain gait, and trembling. The
animal falls, the body is cold and the extremities are stiff, respiration is
laboured, the pulse is slow and small, and there are convulsive movements
of the head and limbs. There is rapid enfeeblement, and death may occur
within thirty hours.

In pigs, foaming, convulsions, and paralysis have been observed:
the stomach and intestines were inflamed and the lungs congested (H. C.
Long).

REMEDY AND MEANS OF CONTROL: As darnel is an annual grass it
should be weeded out before it goes to seed. Badly infested crops should
be cut green and used as hay. Land upon which the seeds have already
fallen, should not again be used for grain until the rotation has included
some hoed crops.

GRASSES CAUSING MECHANICAL INJURIES.
PLATE V.

The long barbed seeds and twisted awns of the porcupine grass (Stipa
spartea Trin.) and the needle grass (S. comata Trin. & Aupr.) sometimes
cause serious injury and even death to domestic animals. Sheep are the
greatest sufferers, as the seeds are easily caught by their wool, and finally
penetrate the skin and flesh.

PLATE V.

Grasses causing mechanical injury.

Pkoto—F.

17

The spines of the sand-bur (Cenchrus tribuloides L.) and the bristles
of the foxtail grasses and millets (Setaria sp.) are also of an injurious
nature.

The sharply-pointed and awned seeds of -squirrel-tail grass or wild
barley (Hordeum jubatum L.) cause inflammation and ulcerating sores in
the mouths of horses and cattle. A case was mentioned by Hadwen of
two bloodhounds who suffered severely with ulcerated sores and swellings
in the throat caused by getting these seeds in the mouth.

Wild oats (Avena fatua L.) possess similar barbed and awned seeds,
which become embedded between the teeth of animals, and cause inflam-
mation.

18

ARUM FAMILY (Araceae)

JACK-IN-THE-PULPIT (Arisaema triphyllum [L.] Torr.)

PLATE VI.

COMMON NAMES: The Jack-in-the-Pulpit is also known as the Indian-
turnip, three-leaved arum, dragon-turnip, devil's ear, bog-onion, and
starch-wort.

DESCRIPTION: It is a perennial plant from eight inches to three feet
high. It usually bears two leaves, sometimes only one. Each leaf has
three leaflets, oval, pointed, smooth, entire or sometimes waved at the
margins. The so-called "flower" is not only one flower, but is made up
of a number of very small flowers arranged around a central axis (spadix)
surrounded by a large, sheathing, coloured bract called the spathe. The
spadix is popularly known as the "Jack" and the spathe forms his "pulpit."
The spathe is pale green, striped with reddish-brown or purple, and is bent
over at the top. The spadix is also green and purple, rounded at the top
and narrowed at the base, where it is surrounded by the small flowers. In
the autumn, the bright scarlet bunch of berries, with the withered spadix
and spathe still attached, is quite as conspicuous as the Jack is in the
early summer. The underground portion of the plant consists of a round,
wrinkled, greyish-brown starchy corm, with a number of rootlets from
the upper surface. It is found in bloom in the spring and early summer.

DISTRIBUTION: Jack-in-the-Pulpit is very common in low, rich woods
throughout Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Quebec, and Ontario. It is a
native of Canada.

POISONOUS PROPERTIES: The plant contains acrid properties. The
cornr is very poisonous. It is held that the acridity disappears with
roasting or boiling. No doubt it was used by the Indians, but it is safer
for the white man not to try experiments. Pammel says the corm of the
Indian-turnip is so extremely acrid that a decoction made from it ha-
been used to kill insects.

GREEN-DRAGON (Arisaema Dracontium [L.] SCHOTT.) ARUM FAMILY.

The green-dragon is a near relative of Jack-in-the-Pulpit, and
similar acrid qualities. It may be distinguished by its solitary leaf, which
is characteristically cut into seven to eleven oblong pointed leaflets, and
by its long tapering spadix and pointed green spathe. It is found on low
grounds in Ontario. It flowers in June.

PLATE VI.

Jack-in-the-pulpit .

Photo—F. Fyles.

20
ARROW ARUM (Peltandra virginica [L.] Kunth.) ARUM FAMILY.

The arrow arum is a stemless plant found in shallow water in Ontario.
It has arrow-shaped leaves, a long green spathe, green berries and thick,
fibrous roots. The berries are poisonous.

WATER ARUM (Calla palustris L.) ARUM FAMILY.

This plant of bogs and shallow waters is sometimes called "the wild
calla" because of its resemblance and close relation to the well-known
cultivated calla. It is a low perennial with a long creeping rootstock
bearing long-stalked, heart-shaped leaves, and a solitary scape. It has
a short spadix and a white spathe almost as wide as long. The berries
are bright red, subtended by the dried white spathe. This plant, which
is native to Canada from Nova Scotia to Hudson Bay, also contains
poisonous properties. The rootstock is particularly acrid.

SKUNK CABBAGE (Symplocarpus foetidus [L.] Nutt.) ARUM FAMILY.
(Spathyema foetida [L.] Raff. )

COMMON NAMES : The skunk cabbage is known by a variety of names,
the most familiar being polecat-weed, swamp-cabbage, clump-foot cabbage,
stinking poke.

DESCRIPTION: It is a perennial herb with a very strong, disagreeable
odour. The short, broad spathe appears very early in the spring before
the leaves. The spathe is swollen, thick, leathery, pale-green, closely-
streaked and spotted with purple or reddish brown, pointed, enveloping
the short, round spadix covered with small purple flowers. The leaves,
which appear much later, are large, bright green, heart-shaped, short-
stalked, veiny, and clustered on the short ridged stem. The spadix
enlarges in fruit, and the round seeds are imbedded.

DISTRIBUTION: The skunk cabbage is a native of Canada, and is
found in bogs and moist land from Nova Scotia to Ontario.

POISONOUS PROPERTIES: The whole plant contains acrid and noxious
properties and has a strong, unpleasant odour. Cattle avoid it.

WESTERN SKUNK CABBAGE (Lysichiton camtschatcense Schott.)

The skunk cabbage of British Columbia is a very conspicuous plant
at all times of the season; in the springtime by its large bright yellow
spathe, in the summer by its leaves mostly three feet long and over a foot
wide, and in the autumn by its long, stalked, large head of fruit.

Fig. a False Hellebore (leaf, flowers, roots.) : i7$*&
•• b Death Camas
•• c Seed-vessels of Death Camas
Reduced One Half

a

21

LILY FAMILY (Liliaceae)

ZYGADENUS OR DEATH GAMAS .(Zygadenus venenosus Rydb. )

(Toxicoscordion gramineum Rydb)

PLATE VII. FIG. B.

COMMON NAMES: Zygadenus is popularly known by a great variety
of names, death camas being, perhaps, the most familiar. Other common
names are poison-onion, poison-lily, poison-sego, camass, hog's-potato,
mystery-grass, alkali-grass, soap-plant, squirrel-food, and lobelia. The
last mentioned should not be used as it causes confusion with another
poisonous plant, the Indian tobacco (Lobelia inflata L.).

DESCRIPTION: The death camas is one of the spring and summer
flowers of the West. It is an erect, perennial herb growing from a coated
bulb. The leaves are grass-like, long, narrow, and keeled, so much resem-
bling the leaves of a grass or sedge that they are often overlooked in the
search for poisonous plants. The flowers are arranged in an elongated
cluster or raceme, simple or branched, at the top of the central flower-stalk,
which is from ten to twenty inches high, rising above the leaves. The
flowers are numerous, small, about one-quarter inch in diameter, yellowish
or greenish white, each subtended by a leaf-like bract which is shorter
than the slender stalk. The flowers bloom from about the middle of May
to the end of July, but the flowering period varies with the season and
altitude. The seeds ripen in their three-parted erect capsules in July and
August, and germinate the following spring, producing the bulb and leaves
only during the summer. The flowering stalk appears the year after.
The plants grow more or less as scattered individuals, but sometimes in
large masses or patches. These patches of the flowering plants are easily
distinguished, even at some distance, by their peculiar greenish-yellow
colour.

DISTRIBUTION: Zygadenus prows abundantly on many of the stock
ranges of the West. It is found generally distributed from Saskatchewan
to British Columbia. It is native to Canada.

POISONOUS PROPERTIES : The poisonous principle of death camas is an
alkaloid, zygadenine, allied to veratrine, which is found in all parts of the
plant. The toxicity of the flowering tops and the bulbs is about the same,
but the seeds are much more toxic than other parts of the plant. Cases
of poisoning, however, are more liable to occur early in the season, before
the plants are in flower, as at that time the fresh green leaves are most
tempting to stock, long deprived of green food. After seeding, the plant
withers.

ANIMALS AFFECTED: In reference to death camas, T. N. Willing says:
"Large numbers of sheep have been affected in the early summer by the
prevalence of this weed (in southern Alberta) amongst the grass on which

63463—3

22

they were grazing." It was proved by the United States Department of
Agriculture that cattle and horses were also poisoned by zygadenus, but
under ordinary conditions they did not consume sufficient quantity to
cause death. The "fatalities were almost entirely confined to sheep."

SYMPTOMS: According to Chesnut and Wilcox, the first signs of poison-
ing are "a certain uneasiness and irregularity in the movements of the
sheep. These irregularities rapidly become more and more pronounced,
accompanied by inco-ordination of the muscular movements, spasms and
rapid breathing. Although sheep are highly excited under the influence
of zygadenus poisoning, the cerebral symptoms seldom constitute a con-
dition of frenzy. It was readily observed that until a few minutes before
death, ewes were able to recognize their lambs, and indicate in other ways
that they were not in any sense crazed. The later symptoms were thox-
of complete motor paralysis, combined with an exceedingly rapid and
sharp breathing and a frequent weak pulse. The duration of these different
stages of poisoning varies to a considerable extent, and depends entirely
upon the amount of death camas which the sheep have eaten."

The principal symptoms are given by Marsh and Clawson as "sali-
vation, nausea, muscular weakness, coma, and sometimes attacks of
d3spnoea."

In general, the symptoms in horses and cattle are similar to those
shown by sheep.

REMEDY AND MEANS OF CONTROL: Medical remedies have been found
of little use, as most of the cases are discovered too late for treatment.
Rest and quiet are recommended. To prevent loss, it is important to
recognize the plant and to avoid pasturing sheep upon it. Hargrave,
however, has obtained good results by the use of permanganate of potash
and aluminum sulphate administered in the very early stages of poisoning.
He says "that for some years past sheepmen in the Walsh District.
Alberta, have looked upon potassium permanganate and aluminum
sulphate as almost specific in sheep poisoned with this plant, and, especially
in cases recognized early, recovery follows in every instance. Some year-
ago the plant was so plentiful over the range that sheep herders were kept
supplied with powders containing five grains of each, and carried with
them a pint bottle so that on recognizing any sheep showing effects of
poisoning, they at once dissolved the powder in a bottleful of water and
immediately administered it as a drench. Very rarely was it necessary
to administer the second dose."

In restricted areas, the weed may be exterminated by putting the
land under cultivation for a time. After the spring rains, when the ground
is soft, the bulbs may be readily pulled, and where the weed is less abundant
it would be well worth while to incur the expense of hand-pulling.

23

SMOOTH CAMAS (Zygadenus chloranthus Rich.) LILY FAMILY.
(Anticlea elegans [Pursh] Rydb.)

PLATE VIII.

COMMON NAMES: Smooth camas is also known by other common
names, the most familiar being swamp-camas, cow-grass, green lily.

DESCRIPTION: It is a much more attractive plant than the death
camas. It grows to a height of one to three feet, with much larger flowers
and leaves. The leaves, stalks, and bracts are of a whitish-green colour,
the bracts sometimes tinged with red or purple. The flowers are greenish
white or cream coloured, from one-half inch to nearly one inch broad.
The perianth leaves are six, each with a large, green, heart-shaped gland
at the base. The stamens are also six, their stalks erect about the ovary
and the three stigmas. The flowers are in bloom about two weeks later
than death camas.

DISTRIBUTION: Smooth camas is more confined to wet ground and
calcareous soils. It is widely distributed, occurring from New Brunswick
and Quebec to Manitoba and westward to British Columbia and the
Yukon.

ANIMALS AFFECTED: Apparently all species of zygadenus are poison-
ous to animals, and contain the same poisonous alkaloid zygadenine. There
is not, however, the same likelihood of serious loss among sheep, as smooth
camas does not grow so abundantly in any one area and its period of
growth is somewhat later in the season, when other herbage is prevalent
and more tempting.

HUMAN POISONING: According to Marsh and Clawson, cases of
poisoning have occurred among children who have eaten the bulbs in
mistake for those of the edible camas, i. e. species of Calochortus and
Camassia.

FALSE HELLEBORE (Veratrum viride Ait.) LILY FAMILY.
PLATE VII. FIG. A. (See facing p. 20.)

COMMON NAMES: Veratrum is commonly known as American white
hellebore, Indian poke, devil's-bite, crow-poison, itchweed, and swamp-
hellebore.

DESCRIPTION: False hellebore is a tall coarse perennial plant, from a
foot and a half to eight feet in height. The stem grows from a short, thick,
erect rootstock, and is leafy to the top. The leaves are broadly oval,
plaited, strongly parallel-veined, entire, pointed, sheathing at the base,
smooth on top, hairy beneath, six to twelve inches long, three to six inches
broad, the upper becoming smaller and narrower. The inflorescence is a
compound panicle from eight inches to two feet in length, the lower
branches spreading or somewhat drooping. The numerous flowers are of

63463—3|

PLATE VIII.

Smooth Camas.

PJtoto— F. Fillet.

25

a dull, yellowish-green colour, one-half to one inch broad; the perianth
consists of six segments, with one stamen opposite each segment. The
capsule is three lobed and three celled, containing numerous flat, winged
seeds. The plant is found in bloom sometimes as early as May, but
usually throughout June, July, and August.

DISTRIBUTION: False hellebore is found in low lands, swamps, wet
woods, and on moist slopes in Eastern Canada. It ascends to high alti-
tudes in British Columbia, but it is best developed in mountain valleys.

POISONOUS PROPERTIES: The whole plant is more or less poisonous,
especially the short, thick rootstock, and coarse, fibrous roots. It contains
an active poison known as veratrine, which belongs to the narcotic irritant
group of poisons.

ANIMALS AFFECTED: False hellebore is poisonous to all animals.
Cattle and horses avoid eating it wherever possible, as they do not relish
the acrid, burning taste of the fresh plant; but young animals sometimes
eat it, with fatal results. A. W. Sampson says that sheep eat it with
impunity after a severe frost.

HUMAN POISONING: As false hellebore is used in the preparation of
certain medicines, cases of poisoning have occurred from overdoses,
Accidental poisoning of man from eating the plant has also been reported.
In one case a whole family was poisoned by using the young leaves as
greens in mistake for those of the marsh marigold (Caltha palustris L.).
However, fatalities among human beings are rare, as the drug induces
spontaneous vomiting. The hairy leaves are very irritating to the skin,
and children often suffer by coming in contact with them.

SYMPTOMS: In general the symptoms of poisoning are salivation,
vomiting, abdominal pain, diarrhoea, cold perspiration, depression of the
heart, loss of sight, and finally death from paralysis of the heart.

REMEDY AND MEANS OF CONTROL: Professional advice should be
obtained wherever possible. Treatment should be pursued by heart
stimulants, such as alcohol or ammonia, and the external application of
warmth. Demulcents, such as raw linseed oil, are given to relieve local
irritation of the digestive organs. Young animals should be given warm
water to assist vomiting and to wash out the stomach. Rest and quiet
should be enforced. The roots of false hellebore should be grubbed out
in the early spring when the ground is soft. Where the land is badly
overrun by this weed, drainage and cultivation is the best method. In
all cases seeding should be prevented by cutting off the tops when the
plant is in its first bloom. On large areas of mountainous districts, cutting
or grubbing would seem impracticable. Such infested land should not be
used as a pasture. A. W. Sampson contends that sheep may be pastured
on such land in the autumn, after the tops have been frozen and when the
ground is hard enough to prevent the poisonous rootstock from being
pulled up.

26

IRIS FAMILY (Iridacea)
BLUE FLAG (Iris versicolor L.)

COMMON NAMES: The blue flag is also known as the wild iris, poison-
flag, water flag, fleur-de-lis, flower-de-luce.

DESCRIPTION: The blue flag is an erect, perennial herb from one to two
feet high, springing from a thick, fleshy, horizontal rootstock. The flowers
are from three to four inches across, violet blue variegated with yellow,
green and white towards the centre, with purple markings. The three
outer parts of the perianth are larger than the three inner, upright, narrow
ones. The three stamens are concealed under the style branches. The
leaves are bluish-green, sword-shaped, overlapping. The seed-capsule is
upright, oblong, with a stout beak splitting into three pockets containing
many reddish-brown seeds somewhat three-cornered and flattened. The
flowers are in bloom in May and June, sometimes even in July.

DISTRIBUTION: The blue flag is native to Canada, and is found from
Newfoundland to Manitoba in wet places, along the borders of streams
and shallow waters.

POISONOUS PROPERTIES: The rootstock is poisonous. It contains
the acrid, resinous substance irisin or iridin. When eaten, it produces
nausea, vomiting, purging, and pain. It is often mistaken for the sweet
flag (Acorus Calamus L.) which is not poisonous, and is masticated by some
people as a cure for indigestion. When in flower, the two plants are so
dissimilar that they could never be taken for one another, but in the
autumn when the roots are gathered, nothing remains of the upper portion
of the plants. Even then, however, they may be distinguished by their
odour, the sweet flag being pleasant aromatic, while the blue flag is
unpleasant and nauseous.

27

NETTLE FAMILY (Urticacea)

SLENDER NETTLE (Urtica gradlis Ait.)
PLATE IX.

COMMON NAMES : The only other English name that seems to be given
this species is tall wild nettle.

DESCRIPTION: The slender nettle is an erect perennial from two to
seven feet high. The stem, which is usually simple, though sometimes
branched, is armed with stinging hairs. The leaves are opposite, hairy,
with slender bristly stalks, long pointed, usually rounded at the base,
with sharply toothed margins. The small greenish-white flowers are
arranged in compound clusters. The plants bloom in summer.

DISTRIBUTION: The slender nettle is common along fence rows, waste
places, and moist ground generally, from Nova Scotia to British Columbia.

POISONOUS PROPERTIES: The nettles are not usually numbered among
the poisonous plants, but they cause what is known as the "nettle rash"
which is unpleasant enough to be avoided. As Pammel says, "it is an
inflammatory disorder with a burning and itching sensation. It may
come out in large or small patches, remaining for a few minutes or several
hours."

Chesnut reports that hundreds of acres of land in Michigan and
Wisconsin were made worthless by the dense growth of this species, and
that horses refused to pass through it to cultivate the soil. He also says,
"the stinging hairs of a closely related species, U. holosericea were the
cause of the death of several horses in California in April, 1900."

OTHER SPECIES OF NETTLE.

The following species in Canada are equally injurious to the skin, and
cause severe irritation and burning wherever they come in contact with
it: The stinging nettle (Urtica dioica L.), the western nettle (U. Lyallii
Wats.), the dwarf nettle (U. wens L.), and the wood nettle (Laportea
canadensis [L.] Gaud.). Plate X.

REMEDY AND MEANS OF CONTROL: The burning and irritation of the
skin may be relieved by the application of diluted alcohol.

The nettles are best kept in control by cultivation. Where tillage
is impracticable, close and continued cutting during the summer is advised.
Salt may be applied to check the new growth. In small patches the root-
stocks should be grubbed out and burned, as well as any tops bearing
seeds.

PLATE IX.

Slender Nettle.

Photo— F.

PLATK X.

Wood Nettle.

Photo— F. Fyles.

30

POKEWEED FAMILY (Phytolaccacea)

POISON POKE !Phytolacca decandra L. )
\Phytolacca americana L. )

PLATE XI.

COMMON NAMES: Poison poke is sometimes called scoke, pokewet ,1
pigeon-berry, and garget.

DESCRIPTION: It is a tall, stout, evil-smelling, perennial herb from
six to nine feet high, with rich green foliage turning red in the autumn.
The leaves are four to six inches long and two to three inches wide, petioled,
pointed at both ends with entire margins. The veins start from the midrib
and meet in scallops near the margin. The flowers are small, numerous
in long racemes, with white calyx and green seed-vessel soon chantiina, to
the crimson calyx and deep purple berries of September and October.
The seeds are black, brightly shining, arranged in a circle in the berry.
The root is large, pale, dull yellow, with uneven ridges at intervals. In
older plants, the branches of the root become massed together consider-
ably, each branch being often more than three inches in diameter.

DISTRIBUTION: Poison-poke is native to Ontario. It is found on
low ground and rich soil.

POISONOUS PROPERTIES: All parts of the plant contain acrid and
somewhat narcotic properties. The juice of the plant will cause skin
irritation. The root is very poisonous; in it are found a toxic substance
phytolaccotoxin, an acrid alkaloid phytolaccine, saponin, and other injurious
constituents. The fruit is also extremely poisonous. The young leaves
lose their acridity when boiled, and are sometimes used as spinach.

ANIMALS AFFECTED: Cattle have been poisoned by eating the fresh
young shoots, in places where the plant is growing abundantly.

HUMAN POISONING: Most cases of human poisoning have been acci-
dental, either in overdoses of medicine or in mistaking the root for that
of horse-radish or parsnip. Fatal cases of poisoning of children from
eating the fruit have been reported by Chesnut.

SYMPTOMS: Poison-poke is a very powerful, although slow-act in»;
emetic. Vomiting does not usually begin until after two or more hours.
The symptoms are: nausea, vomiting, spasms, severe purging, and some-
times death from paralysis of the respiratory organs.

REMEDY AND MEANS OF CONTROL: Professional advice should l>e
obtained. The plants should be grubbed out. If the roots and berrii-.-
are not sold as drugs, care should be taken to destroy them entirely.
Where cutting off would seem more practicable, coarse salt, carbolic acid,
or coal-oil should be applied to the cut surface of the root to check ne\v
growth.

PLATE XI.

Poison Poke.

Photo— F. Fyles.

32

PINK FAMILY (Caryophyllacece)

PURPLE COCKLE— (A grostemma Githago L.).
PLATE XII. (See p. 27-29.)

COMMON NAMES: The purple cockle is also popularly known as corn
cockle, corn rose, and corn campion.

DESCRIPTION: Agrostemma means "the-crown-of-the-field." The
richly coloured flowers waving among the ears of grain deserve the name,
but its aptitude is lost, no doubt, upon the busy farmer who sees only a
certain loss to his crop. It is a tall annual or biennial introduced from
Europe, one to three feet high, more or less covered with silky hairs. The
leaves are two to five inches long, narrow, pointed, with entire margins.
The flowers are purple, pale towards the centre, with dark markings, from
one to two inches wide. The petals are five, shorter than the long, narrow,
pointed, and hairy sepals. The seeds are about 1|8 inch in diameter, black
or of such deep purple as to appear black, rough, with rows of short, close
teeth. The plant is in flower from July to August.

DISTRIBUTION: Purple cockle was introduced into Canada from
Europe, and is now scattered throughout the country in grain fields and
along roadsides.

POISONOUS PROPERTIES : This weed, containing saponin, is poisonous
both to animals and human beings. The seeds are most harmful. The
seed capsules, being on a level with the heads of grain, and ripening at the
same time, are cut and milled with the grain. Unless the wheat is very
carefully screened, the flour is rendered unwholesome. The presence of the
poison may be detected in lower grades of flour by its pecular odour, and
even by remnants of the rough, black, seed-coat. Very dangerous results may
follow the repeated use of even a small quantity of this flour, as it will
produce a chronic disease known as "githagism."

SYMPTOMS: The symptoms of chronic poisoning are: gradual depression,
headache, nausea, diarrhoea, burning of the skin, loss of vigou* in muscular
movements and breathing, sometimes followed by coma and death.

Cornevin describes the symptoms in the acute form in the case of
horses, cattle, and pigs. In the horse, if a small quantity only is taken,
there is yawning, heavy colic, stamping and evacuation of rather sofx faeces.
If larger quantities are taken, the symptoms, which commence in about an
hour, are salivation, frequent yawning and turning of the head, colic, pale
mucus, hurried and weak pulse, rise in temperature, and accelerated res-
piration. Some time later there are muscular tremors succeeded by pro-
nounced rigidity, and the faeces are diarrhceic and fcetid. The animal lies
down, and getting up is painful; it falls into a kind of coma, stretches
itself to the utmost, and death takes place without convulsions.

Ids Plate XIL

33

In cattle, the symptons observed one hour after eating are restlessness,
salivation, and grinding of the teeth. Excitement and colic are followed
sometimes by coughing, this state lasting from five to eight hours. There
is then a period of coma, characterized by permanent decubitus, repeated
f cetid diarrhoea, hurried and plaintive respiration, accelerated and gradually
weakening pulse, a gradual loss of motor and sensory powers, and a pro-
gressive decline in temperature. Death occurs in twenty-four hours.

In the case of pigs, the animal grunts, lies down and remains thus,
with its snout embedded in the straw. There is vomiting, more or less
violent colic and diarrhoea, the evacuation consisting of bad-smelling,
spumous faecal matter. At times there are clonic contractions. Young
pigs are most susceptible. (H. C. Long.)

REMEDY AND MEANS OF CONTROL: Weed out corn cockle before or
not later than the first appearance of the purple flowers. Badly infested
areas may be sprayed with copper or iron sulphate when the plants are in
bloom to prevent the production of seeds.

SOAPWORT. (Saponaria officinalis L.) PINK FAMILY.

The soapwort or bouncing bet is a coarse, rather showy perennial
plant, with large clusters of pale rose-coloured flowers, sometimes double,
which is common along roadsides, in old gardens and neglected places,
having been introduced from Europe in garden seeds. It is in bloom from
July to September or later. The juice of the plant, when stirred in water — •
forms a froth like soapsuds, and has been used for sponging cloth. The
whole plant, especially the root, contains the poisonous glucosidal substance
saponin. No cases of poisoning have been recorded, probably due to the
fact that animals avoid the plant and other nourishing food is abundant
at the time. The saponin substances dissolve the blood corpuscles of all
animals, causing stupefaction and paralysis, with vomiting and purging.

COW-COCKLE OR COW-HERB. (Saponaria Vaccaria L.). (Vaccaria
Vaccaria Britton). PINK FAMILY.

PLATE XIII.

The annual cow-cockle is closely related to the soapwort and the
purple cockle. Like the soapwort it has smooth leaves and pink flowers,
but the flowers are a brighter pink, smaller and on longer stalks. The
plant contains saponin. It has been introduced from Europe, and is com-
mon in wheat fields in the West. The seeds, which are regarded as poisonous
are common in wheat screenings. They are slightly smaller than those of
purple cockle, reddish brown, round, with a flat band around the middle.

PLATE XIII.

Cow ( 'ocklc.

Pkoto—P. Files.

35

BUTTERCUP FAMILY (Ranunculacece)
CURSED CROWFOOT (Ranunculus sceleratus L.)

COMMON NAMES: Other popular names given to this Ranunculus are
biting crowfoot, celery-leaved crowfoot, blisterwort, and among its French
names are Mort au vaches, Herbe sardonique.

DESCRIPTION: The cursed crowfoot is a stout, hollow-stemmed
annual from six inches to two feet high. The leaves from the root are
thick, with long and broad stalks, rounded or heart-shaped, three lobed
and toothed. The upper leaves have very short stalks or none at all,
longer lobes and fewer teeth. The flowers are pale yellow, small, about
one-quarter of an inch broad, the petals about the same length as the
sepals. The fruiting heads or clusters of seeds, which may be seen on
plants still in flower, are oblong or cylindric. The plants are in bloom
from June to August, sometimes earlier or later, according to locality
and climatic conditions.

DISTRIBUTION: It is found in wet ditches, low lands, and swamps
from New*Brunswick to British Columbia.

POISONOUS PROPERTIES: As its name implies, the cursed crowfoot is
one of the most virulent of our native species. It contains very acrid and
poisonous principles. Any small portion of the leaf or flower, if eaten,
will cause severe pain and serious inflammation, and if applied to the skin
will raise painful blisters in a short time. Beggars in Europe use this and
other species of buttercup to produce running sores. An old herbalist
says, "Cunning beggars doe use to stampe the leaves, and lay it unto their
legs and armes, which causeth such filthy ulcers as we daily see among
such wicked vagabondes to move the people the more to pittie."

The chemical composition of the acrid and bitter juice of the butter-
cups is not well known, but it is thought that the substance is similar to
the anemonine of the species of Anemone. The toxic principle is volatile,
and the buttercups may be rendered harmless by drying or boiling. When
dried with the hay they may be eaten by stock without injury. When
fresh they are acrid and burning, causing intense irritation of the mucous
membrane and inflammation of the intestinal tract. Some of the species,
as for instance R. repens L., are hardly if at all injurious even in a green
state, although one case of fatal poisoning to sheep has been recorded of
this species.

ANIMALS AFFECTED: It is evident that under certain circumstances
all animals are liable to suffer injury from the toxic principles of the
buttercups, but they are considered especially .dangerous to cows. It is
stated that in man a single flower of R. sceleratus may give rise to poisonous
symptoms similar to those caused by Anemone and Colchicum.

36

SYMPTOMS: Cornevin has shown that the cursed crowfoot induces
gastro-enteritis, colic, diarrhoea with excretion of black, foul-smelling
faeces, vomiting when possible, falling-off in milk yield in cows, nervous
symptoms, reduction in pulse, and sterterous respiration, dilation of the
pupils, enfeebled condition, difficult mastication, spasmodic movements of
the ears, lips, etc., followed in serious cases by convulsions, sinking of the
eye in its socket, and death in six to twelve hours after first convulsion.

The symptoms of poisoning in the horse, as given by Lander, are
practically, the same as the above. Pott records haematuria and reddish
or bitter milk in cows.

Lander also reports an instance of sheep falling down suddenly when
eating R. repens, their eyes rolling. They died in a short time, with their
heads inclined over the left flank.

REMEDY AND MEANS OF CONTROL: The ordinary emetics and stimu-
lants should be given, and professional advice obtained. The weed
should be cut or pulled when in its first bloom to prevent the ripening of
seeds.

TALL BUTTERCUP (R. acris L.) BUTTERCUP FAMILY.

The tall or meadow buttercup is an erect, hairy, perennial plant two
to three feet high. The basal leaves are long-stalked, three to seven
parted, each division cleft into linear crowded lobes. The upper leaves
have shorter stalks, and fewer lobes. The flowers are bright yellow,
numerous, about an inch in diameter, with roundish petals two or three
times the length of the pointed sepals. The fruit clusters are round, one-
quarter to one-third inch broad. The seeds are flattened, with a short
beak. The plant is in bloom from May to September. It was intro-
duced from Europe, and is now common in fields and on roadsides across
the American continent.

This species of buttercup is less harmful than the cursed crowfoot
and, when dried with the hay, forms a large part of the fodder available
in some districts, but it must be remembered that all the buttercups are of
a poisonous character and under certain conditions and seasons are liable
to become very injurious. Long states that "R. acris L., the acrid butter-
cup or tall crowfoot, is a frequent cause of poisoning in cattle," and
Cornevin says "it is perhaps the species which causes the most accidents."

OTHER SPECIES OF BUTTERCUP.

Our native small-flowered buttercup (R. abortivus L.) which may be
distinguished by its round heart-shaped root leaves and pale yellow
flowers whose petals are shorter than the reflexed sepals, is equally capable
of causing irritation and blistering, as is also the smaller spearwort (R.
reptans L.). All other buttercups of the swamps and woods contain more
or less acridity.

Pasque Flower Plate XIV.

37

T?T rmn?T> fAnemone patens L. var. Wolfgangiana (Bess.) Koch)
r J-/U W Jiixt < ,D , .„ ,T N ,,,.,, N

{(Pulsatilla patens (L.) Mill.)

PLATE XIV.
BUTTERCUP FAMILY.

COMMON NAMES: This lovely flower is known under a variety of
names, the most familiar being prairie anemone, American pulsatilla,
Easter-flower, wild crocus, prairie-smoke, and sand-flower.

DESCRIPTION: The . pasque flower is one of the most beautiful of the
prairie spring flowers. It is a perennial, with a single, large, cup-shaped,
violet-coloured flower, which opens before the silky grey-green leaves have
appeared above ground. The fruit cluster is interesting, as each seed has
a long feathery appendage which aids it in dissemination. The leaves,
which appear later, are finely dissected. The plant is in bloom from
early in March to April and sometimes in May.

DISTRIBUTION: This native plant is common on the prairies from
Manitoba to British Columbia.

POISONOUS Properties: Pammel says it is a " very poisonous plant.
The different parts of the plant are entirely acrid and, when applied to the
skin, cause irritation and vesication. The acridity of the plant is due to
the presence of a crystalline substance called anemonine." Lloyd states:
"The vapours evolved from the fresh juice are of such an acrid nature as to
have inflamed the eyes and have closed them temporarily. For this reason
persons refuse to work with the fresh herb."

It is interesting to note that Mr. T. N. Willing drew the attention of
stockmen to the injury caused by this plant in 1903 as follows: —

"CROCUS ANEMONE. — This is a beautiful purplish cup-shaped flower
that is very abundant in some localities in the early spring. Close
observation on the part of some Alberta shepherds showed that deaths
were frequent in a bunch of sheep after feeding greedily on these flowers,
and a microscopical and chemical investigation by Professors Fletcher and
Shutt, of Ottawa, proved that numerous balls of felt, composed of the fine
hairs with which the plant is covered, formed in the stomachs and impaired
the digestion to such an extent as to frequently prove fatal. I have,
however, taken from an old sheep as many as seventeen balls which varied
in size from a marble to a large egg. This ewe was known as a 'piner.'
A shepherd should avoid letting his sheep graze where the anemone is
abundant."

•

MARSH MARIGOLD. (Caltha palustris L.) BUTTERCUP FAMILY.

COMMON NAMES: The marsh marigold is also called cowslip, king-
cup, meadow-gowan, water-dragon, may blobs, soldiers-buttons, water-
goggles.

63463—4

38

DESCRIPTION : The marigold, a perennial, is one of the showy members
of the buttercup family, with its abundant yellow flowers and luxuriant
foliage. The stems are smooth, hollow, and furrowed. The leaves are
round or kidney-shaped, with a slightly scalloped or even margin. There
are no petals, but the broad, bright sepals take their place. The stamens
are numerous. The seed pods are somewhat flattened, spreading, short-
beaked, and many-seeded. The plant is in flower from April till June.

DISTRIBUTION: The marsh marigold is a native of Canada, and is
found in swamps, wet meadows, and along streams from Newfoundland to
Saskatchewan.

POISONOUS PROPERTIES: Like most of the species of buttercup, the
marsh marigold contains acrid poisonous properties, and both man and
animals have suffered. Cattle have died from eating it, although as a
general rule, they, as well as sheep, avoid it unless urged by hunger. Miller
reports the poisoning of several horses, one of which succumbed. When
in a young state the plant is harmless and is eaten boiled as greens, but'
Cornevin states that it becomes toxic by the time of blooming and that
the toxicity increases with maturity. If eaten after the flower buds
have unfolded, it is likely to cause extreme nausea and pain in the abdomen.
A. B. Smith holds that the toxicity is due to the alkaloid jervine and the
glucoside helleborin.

When dried with the hay, according to H. C. Long, the plant is harm-
less, but Rusby states it causes diarrhoea and loss of milk production.

SYMPTOMS: According to Cornevin the symptoms are similar to those
produced by buttercup poisoning, i. e. diarrhoea, loss of milk production,
colic, bloating, inflammation of the bladder, etc. Johnson and Sowerby
mention the case of five persons who, after eating marsh marigold as a
herb, were "seized with violent sickness and pain in the abdomen, followed
by diarrhoea and general cedematous swelling over the whole body."

OTHER SPECIES OF MARSH-MARIGOLD.

The western species, no doubt, contain similar poisonous properties
and should be viewed with suspicion, although no cases of poisoning have
been reported.

The yellow marsh-marigold (Caltha asarifolia DC.) is the only western
species with yellow flowers. It resembles the eastern species in general
appearance, and is found in marshy meadows in British Columbia and the
Yukon.

The mountain marsh-marigold (C. leptosepala DC.) has white flowers,
usually tinged with blue on the outside. It grows in wet alpine meadows
in Alberta, British Columbia, and the Yukon. The two-flowered species
(C. biflora DC.) has numerous stem leaves and white flowers with one stalk
shorter than the other. The dwarf marsh-marigold (C. chclidonii Greene)
grows from two to four inches high. Its leaves are round, heart-shaped and
its flowers white. It is found along alpine streams and below the snow.

39

THE LARKSPURS (Delphinium sp.) BUTTERCUP FAMILY.

PLATE XV.

COMMON NAMES : The larkspurs are sometimes referred to in literature
as knight's spurs, lark's-heel, lark's-claw and stavesacre. In France the
common names are pieds d'alouette, herbe Sainte-Athalie, fleur d'amour.

DESCRIPTION : They fall naturally into two groups, the tall and the
low or dwarf species. The tall larkspurs, of which there are several species
in Western Canada, grow from three to six feet high. The general outline
of the leaves is round but they are deeply palmately cut into three to seven
lobes like the leaves of the buttercup, the sections being very narrow or
broadly wedge-shaped according to their number. The flowers are
arranged in a narrow, sparingly-branched panicle or simple loose raceme
from four to ten inches in length. Each flower is about an inch or an inch
and a half broad, with a spur projecting at the back. The colour varies
from a bright blue to a dull purplish blue, or in some species very pale
violet and yellow. The seed vessels are about half an inch long, erect,
dry, ending in a short beak. The seeds are numerous, small, with a loose
coat. The 'plants are in bloom during June and July, sometimes earlier
or later according to season and locality. The low larkspurs are similar
in general appearance but are only six inches to three feet in height.

DISTRIBUTION: Practically all of the species of larkspur growing wild
in Canada are native. They are common in Alberta and British Columbia.

POISONOUS PROPERTIES : The toxic nature of the. larkspurs has been
recognized since early classic days, but it is only in comparatively recent
literature that reference is made to them as some of the most important
of the stock-poisoning plants. The greatest losses occur in North America.
Chesnut says, "They have proved nearly as fatal to stock as the water
hemlocks, and probably kill a larger number than any other class of plants."

As far as can be determined, the poisonous principles of only a few of
the Canadian species have been studied. In 1913, Loy, Heyl, and Hepner
isolated an alkaloid in an impure form from two species in Wyoming which
also grow in Canada, D. nelsonii and D. glaucum. In 1910, Marsh and
Clawson carried on feeding experiments with several species — including
D. menziesii and D. bicolor, two low larkspurs of the West — which proved
them to be highly poisonous to cattle. Two European species, D. Con-
solida and D. Staphisagria contain the four alkaloids, delphinine
which is very poisonous and bitter, delphisine which is extremely poisonous,
delphinoidine also poisonous, and staphisagrine. No doubt the closely
related Canadian species are of a similar nature. Marsh and Clawson,
who have carried on extensive work with several species in the Western
States, came to the conclusion that other species had the same properties
as those experimented with, and that there was no marked difference in
toxicity between the different species of larkspur.

63463— 4J

PLATE XV.

Larkspur.

Pkoto—F. Fylet.

41

The low larkspurs are poisonous during the whole season of their
growth, but as they dry up and disappear in the early summer, poisoning
usually occurs in the early spring.

.The tall species live throughout the summer, but their toxicity dimin-
ishes after they flower, and they become coarse and less tempting. There-
fore, although the seeds are very toxic, cases of poisoning occur chiefly
in the spring when the green parts of the plant are most poisonous and
afford an abundance of fresh green. In regard to the seeds, H. C. Long
says they "are the most dangerous part of the larkspur, and should never
be ground up with wheat should the two plants grow together." The loss
of three head of cattle was reported to us (1918) from Barrhead, Alta.,
from eating the seed vessels of larkspur containing seeds. These had been
cut and dried with the hay.

ANIMALS AFFECTED: In the feeding experiments mentioned above,
it was shown that the larkspurs were poisonous to cattle and horses but
not to sheep. Horses, under ordinary conditions, do not eat sufficient
quantity to do harm, so that losses from larkspur poisoning are chiefly
confined to cattle. Pott states that D. Consolida is an acute narcotic
poison to horses and cattle.

SYMPTOMS: The general symptoms of poisoning both from the tall
and the low larkspurs are as follows: salivation, nausea, vomiting, weak-
ness, colic, twitching of the muscles of the sides and legs, convulsions, and
general paralysis. If the animal does not recover, death usually occurs
in a few minutes or a few hours.

REMEDY AND MEANS OF CONTROL : Marsh and Clawson found in their
experiments with antidotes that beneficial results were obtained by using
"hypodermically, injections of physostigmin salicylate, pilocarpin hydro-
chlorid, and strychnin sulphate, followed by hypodermic injections of
whisky when needed."

They also pointed -out that "if in the beginning of the poisoning some
remedy could be used which would quickly stimulate the intestinal excre-
tion, it might serve to save the lives of animals."

As regards the eradication of larkspur, choice of methods must depend
entirely upon conditions and circumstances. It may be pointed out that
the loss of a single steer will cover a large amount of the cost of grubbing
out this weed. The yearly loss of several head of cattle on a single farm
and the cost of destroying the weed is best calculated by the owner.
Where entire extermination is impossible, the first year or two, the number
of the plants may be so reduced as to avoid actual loss by poisoning. In
most cases the surest means of killing the plant is to cut off the roots from
six to eight inches below the surface of the soil. The work should be done
thoroughly to prevent the growth of new shoots. All tops cut off should
be destroyed at once.

42
WHITE BANEBERRY (Actaea alba [L.] Mill.) BUTTERCUP FAMILY.

COMMON NAMES : Other names given to the white baneberry are coral
and pearls, white beads, necklace-weed, white berry.

DESCRIPTION: The white baneberry is a perennial herb with large,
wide-spreading, compound leaves. The very small white flowers are
arranged in an oblong cluster at the end of the stalk. The flower cluster
elongates as the fruit forms, sometimes reaching a length of three to four
inches. The berries are about half an inch long and nearly as wide, bright
white with a black spot at the end. The berry stalks are about as long
as the berry and become thickened with maturity, turning a rich ml.
slightly swollen at each end like broken bits of the common red coral. At
this stage they are very attractive and tempting, especially to children.
The plant is in bloom in April and May, a week or two later than the red
baneberry.

DISTRIBUTION: This species of Actaea is a native of Canada, and is
found in rich woods in the eastern provinces, tending to spread westward.

POISONOUS PROPERTIES: The white baneberry is a variety of tin-
European species, A. spicata L. of which Hill says in his Herbal (p. 320)
that children who have eaten the fruit have died in convulsions.

SYMPTOMS: The European baneberry, A. spicata L. is classified in
the group of plants containing poisons which act upon the heart, of which
group A. B. Smith gives the following symptoms: numbness and tingling
in the mouth, abdominal pain, vertigo, purging, tremor, occasional
delirium, paralysis, dyspnoea, ending in syncope.

REMEDY: Warn children against eating unknown fruits in the woods.
Should poisoning occur, the usual emetic may be given and the advice of
a doctor obtained as soon as possible.

RED BANEBERRY (Actaea rubra [Ait,] Willd.) BUTTERCUP FAMILY.

PLATE XVI.

COMMON NAMES: The red baneberry is also known as the poison-berry r
snake-berry, toadroot, herb-christopher.

DESCRIPTION: Like the white baneberry, this plant is a perennial
with large, wide-spreading compound leaves, but the leaflets are thicker
and more coarsely toothed. The cluster of small white flowers is nearly
as wide as it is high. The flower stalks are slender and do not become
thickened in fruit. The berries are about half an inch long, widest in the
centre, brilliantly cherry-coloured, becoming slightly darker. There is a
white-berried form (Forma neglecta, A. neglecta Gillman) (plate xvi.),
common at Rockliffe, Ottawa, and not rare in other places, which at first

PLATE XVI.

Photo— F. Fyles

Red Baneberry.

44

glance might be taken for A. alba, but its long slender green pedicels,
unenlarged in maturity, point to a nearer relationship to A. rubra. It is
found growing in clumps with the red baneberry. Another form of the
red baneberry is found in Lincoln county, Ontario, with decompound
leaves and incised leaflets, (Var. dissecta Britton). The plant is in bloom
from April to May, about two weeks before the white baneberry.

DISTRIBUTION: This native plant is common in rich woods from
Nova Scotia to Alberta.

POISONOUS PROPERTIES: The berries are known to be poisonous. In
regard to the rootstock, Sayre says that it is a violent purgative irritant
and emetic.

THE WESTERN RED BANEBERRY (A. arguta Nutt.)

This plant is similar to the eastern species, but it has very thin and
light green leaflets, long pointed and very sharply toothed. Its berries
are spherical or almost so, and no doubt possess some of the undesirable
qualities of the above species.

45

MOONSEED FAMILY (Menispermaceae)

CANADA MOONSEED (Menispermum canadense L.)
PLATE XVII. — FRONTISPIECE.

COMMON NAMES: The Canada moonseed is sometimes called yellow
parilla or sarsaparilla, and vine-maple.

DESCRIPTION: One of our most beautiful perennial twining plants,
the Canada moonseed is found in the woods bordering streams and lakes,
climbing over shrubs in search of higher support or twining around small
trees. One of the shrubs about which it delights to twine is the prickly
ash (Zanthoxylum americanum Mill.). It may sometimes be seen attaining
a height of twelve to fifteen feet on large maples, the succession of beautiful
green leaves overlapping and forming a graceful covering for the bare
trunk. In the summer, the small greenish-white flowers are seen, and in
the autumn the rich grape-like clusters of blue berries or drupes. The
leaves are heart-shaped, or angled, with three to seven lobes, the stalk set
slightly within the margin. The flowers are of two kinds, growing on
separate plants, the pollen-bearing or staminate and the seed-bearing or
pistillate. The berries each contain one hard seed, which is crescent
shaped. The plant blooms from June to July, and the fruit is ripe in
September.

DISTRIBUTION: This attractive native vine grows in woods along
streams from Western Quebec to Manitoba, and is being introduced by
cultivation into other parts of Canada.

POISONOUS PROPERTIES: Canada moonseed is a northern member
of a family which chiefly belongs to the tropics and of which many plants
contain powerfully toxic principles used as fish poisons. Some species
of Abuta are used in the preparation of the well-known curare poison.
For this reason, perhaps, a certain amount of suspicion has naturally
fallen upon the moonseed, and it must remain so until more is known of
it. The fruit, which ripens about the same time as the wild grape, is
always tempting to children and, according to Schnaffner, three fatalities
have occurred. The rootstock contains a bitter alkaloid menispine, and
berberine, as well as the alkaloid oxyacanthine.

PLATE XVII.

Canada Moonseed.

/•'. Fyles.

47

BARBERRY FAMILY (Berberidaceae)

BLUE COHOSH (Caulophyllum thalictroides [L.] Michx.)

PLATE XVIII.

COMMON NAMES: The blue cohosh is also called papoose-root, squaw-
root, blue ginseng, yellow ginseng, blueberry-root.

DESCRIPTION: The blue cohosh is a perennial from one to three feet
high, with an erect stem bearing a large nearly sessile leaf near the summit
and a loose cluster of greenish-purple flowers, which are in full bloom
before the leaf has unfolded. The whole plant has a peculiar dark greenish
purple bloom when young, which gradually disappears with age. The
leaf is twice or thrice compound, the first divisions being long-stalked and
the leaflets shorter stalked, oval or oblong, with three to five lobes near
the apex. The flowers are about one-half inch wide, surrounded by three
to four small bracts. The sepals are six, much longer than the six small
and rounded petals. The seeds are globular, resembling dark-blue berries,
borne on short, stout stalks. The rootstock is horizontal, thick and knotted,
with round pits or leaf scars at intervals, each scar representing a year's
growth. It is one of the early spring flowers, blooming from April to
May.

DISTRIBUTION: This native Canadian plant is found in the woods
from New Brunswick to Manitoba.

POISONOUS PROPERTIES: Blue cohosh contains the poisonous glu-
cosidal saponine, a peculiar substance which, when stirred in water,
creates a froth like soap suds. The plant is extremely bitter to the taste
and is hardly likely to be eaten except by children tempted by the
attractive appearance of the berry-like seeds. Lloyd records blue
cohosh, in White's book on dermatitis, as being "very irritant to mucous
surfaces, so much so that the dust is very disagreeable." The rootstock
is said to contain saponin and the alkaloid caulophylline.

MAY APPLE (Podophyllum peltatum L.) BARBERRY FAMILY.

PLATE XIX.

COMMON NAMES : The may apple is recognized by a variety of popular
names, of which the most common are mandrake, umbrella-plant, duck's
foot, devil's apple, vegetable calomel, wild or ground lemon.

DESCRIPTION: The may apple is a perennial of very striking appear-
ance. A single stem rises from the underground rootstock to a height of
a foot or more, when it forks into two large umbrella-like leaves sheltering

PLATE XVIII.

Blue Cohosh.

Photo— F. Fyle*.

49

a single nodding white flower in their axil. The leaves are dark green,
sometimes a foot across, deeply lobed and notched, with the stalk arising
from a point within the margin. The wax-like flower somewhat resembles
a single white rose. The fruit is about two inches long, green at first,
gradually turning yellow, lemon-shaped, and claimed to be edible, although
ill effects have arisen from the consumption of it in any quantity. The
rootstock is greatly elongated, with very long spaces between the scars
which remain from each year's upper growth. The scars are large, low,
and cup-shaped. The plant is in flower during May.

DISTRIBUTION: The may apple is a native of Canada, and is found in
the woods or on the borders of woods from Quebec to southern Ontario.
In some parts of southern Ontario it grows in great abundance.

POISONOUS PROPERTIES: The same bitterness of the blue cohosh is
found in the may apple except in the ripe fruit. The ripe fruit or "lemon"
is rather pleasant and sweetish, but one is usually sufficient for the
ordinary appetite. Schaffner says, "roots, stem, and leaves drastic and
poisonous, but the ripe fruit less so. Leaves, when eaten by cows,
produce injurious milk. The ripe fruit may be eaten in small quantities."
The rootstock contains a resinous substance to which the name podophyllin
has been given. Podophyllin is used largely for medicinal purposes, and
occasionally fatalities have occurred from over-dosage. In relation to
the effect of the root upon the skin, Lloyd writes: "Our employees
experience great trouble in working this, owing to the irritating action
on the skin. We have in numerous instances had our men cease work for
several days owing to its action, which causes very painful inflammation
of the skin, especially of the eyes."

SYMPTOMS: Millspaugh says in regard to its action on man, the
symptoms of disturbance caused by the drug in doses varying from one-
quarter to one-half grains of podophyllin and in persons working in the dust
of the dried root, are substantially as follows: inflammation of the eyes;
soreness and pustulation of the nose; salivation and white-coated tongue;
extreme nausea, followed by vomiting; severe pains in the transverse
colon and abdomen, followed by an urgent call to stool; thin, offensive,
copious stools; weak pulse, prostration, drowsiness, and cold extremities.

PLATE XIX

May Apple.

Pkofo-F.

51

POPPY FAMILY (Papaveraceaf)

BLOODROOT (Sanguinaria canadensis L.)
PLATE XX. (Facing p. 52.)

COMMON NAMES: The bloodroot is known by a variety of names,
among which are red-indian paint, sweet slumber, redroot, turmeric,
and snake-bite.

DESCRIPTION: The bloodroot is one of our earliest and loveliest
spring flowers. On its first appearance above ground, the flower bud is
entirely surrounded by the grey-green leaf. The upper and smoother
side of the leaf is next the flower. The lower side of the leaf is covered
with a network of prominent veins. As the leaf unfolds, the flower bud
is brought into view. The two pale-green sepals entirely surround the
eight white petals in the bud, but when the flower expands, the sepals are
no longer needed and fell from the plant. The seed pods are long, narrow,
pale-green, and contain shining red-brown seeds. The perennial rootstock
is thick, short, dark red on the outside, and brighter red and orange within.
When any part of the fresh plant is bruised or broken, there exudes a
characteristic reddish juice. The flowers are out in April and May.

DISTRIBUTION : Bloodroot is a native of Canada, and is found in rich
open woods from Nova Scotia to Manitoba.

POISONOUS PROPERTIES: The whole plant contains an acrid, orange-
red latex or milky juice, which is extremely irritating to the skin, particu-
larly if the skin is bruised or broken. It contains an acrid, bitter substance
known as sanguinarin. The rootstock also contains the alkaloids chelery-
thrine, homochelidonine, and protopine. It is hardly likely to be eaten,
as it has a repulsive appearance and a very bitter taste. It is used medi-
cinally, and Johnson records fatal cases from overdoses.

SYMPTOMS: Millspaugh states that "Sanguinaria, in toxic doses,
causes a train of symptoms showing it to be an irritant; it causes
nausea, vomiting, sensations of burning in the mucous membranes
whenever it comes in contact with them, faintness, vertigo, and insensi-
bility. It reduces the heart's action and muscular strength, and depresses
the nerve force, central and peripheral. Death has occurred from over-
doses, after the following sequence of symptoms : violent vomiting, followed
by terrible thirst and great burning in the stomach and intestines, accom-
panied by soreness over the region of these organs ; heaviness of the upper
chest, with difficult breathing; dilation of the pupils; great muscular
prostration; faintness and coldness of the surface, showing that death
follows from cardiac paralysis."

52

CELANDINE (Chelidonium majus L.) POPPY FAMILY.
PLATE XXI.

COMMON NAMES: This species is sometimes called the greater
celandine to distinguish it from the lesser celandine common in the Old
Country. It is also known as the wart-flower, devil's-milk, and swallow-
wort.

DESCRIPTION: The celandine is a biennial or perennial herb with
deeply-lobed leaves, one to two feet high, so named from an ancient Greek
word meaning swallow, because its flowers appear with the coming of the
swallows. The whole plant is somewhat brittle, and a saffron-coloured
juice oozes out wherever it is broken. The flowers are rather small, bright
yellow; sepals two, hairy, falling when the flower expands as is usual in the
poppy family; petals four, stamens sixteen to twenty-four. The number
two and its multiples is another characteristic of this group of plants.
The seed pods are long and narrow, opening from the bottom upwards.
Ripe seed pods are often seen with the flowers, as the plant continues
blooming from May to September.

DISTRIBUTION: It has been naturalized from Europe and is found
in rich, damp soil about towns, chiefly in Ontario.

POISONOUS PROPERTIES: — In reference to the greater celandine, H. C.
Long says: "This common plant exhales an unpleasant odour, and when
bruised or broken shows the presence of a yellowish acrid juice, which
becomes red immediately on exposure to the air. It is an old medicinal
drug plant, but is dangerous, being emetic and purgative, with a strongly
irritating effect on the digestive tract. Animals are but rarely likely to
take it, and no record of the death of domesticated animals has been
found." The plant contains the bitter alkaloids chelidonine, chelerythrine,
and protopine.

SYMPTOMS: The action of this plant is acrid, irritant and narcotic,
emetic and purgative. Esser remarks that when chelerythrine is intro-
duced on the nasal mucous membrane, it causes violent sneezing, and
taken internally causes vomiting.

Bloodroot - Plate XVHI.

PLATE XXI.

Celandine.

Photo— F. Fyles.

63463—5

54

PULSE OR PEA FAMILY (Leguminosa)

LUPINES (Lupinus sp.)
PLATE XXII.

COMMON NAMES: The lupines are known under a variety of nam<->,
the most familiar being wild peas, wild beans, blue pea, blue bean, old-
maid's bonnets, Quaker-bonnets, and sundial.

DESCRIPTION: Most of the lupines are perennial plants, growing
from one to two feet high. The leaves are palmately compound, that
is with the leaflets all attached at the end of the leafstalk and outspread.
The leaflets vary in number, according to the species, from five to eleven.
They also vary in regard to smoothness and hairiness. The flowers are
arranged in an elongated spike or raceme. Many of the species are very
showy and well worthy of cultivation as ornamental plants. The colour
ranges from pink or cream through various shades of violet to rich blues
and purples. Each flower is about half an inch long, and there may \>c
any number from fifteen to fifty or more on a single stalk. The seed pod
is flattened usually, showing the form of the seed within.

DISTRIBUTION: With the exception of L. perennis L. in Ontario, the
lupines in Canada are found on the prairies of Saskatchewan and Alberta
and on the hillsides and mountains of British Columbia.

POISONOUS PROPERTIES: It was found by Sollman that several
poisonous alkaloids were present in the American species of lupine. It
is thought probable that most, if not all, of the poisoning of live stock was
due to these alkaloids, among which was lupinidine, and not to ictrogen,
the cause of "lupinosis" in northern Europe. Marsh and Clawson in
their experiments also found the alkaloids to be the cause of trouble. They
refer to the work of Knowles, who records lupine poisoning among horses,
as the "first to note and record definitely cases which can be diagnosed as
instances of "lupinosis" or ictrogenic poisoning. The clear-cut evidence
presented by Dr. Knowles seems conclusive and makes it probable that
other similar cases will be found, although it does not seem likely that
lupine causes large losses of horses."

All parts of the lupines above ground are more or less poisonous.
The seeds are the most toxic, the pods next, and then the leaves. As the
poison is not cumulative fairly large quantities of the plant may be eaten.
without harm, provided the toxic limit is not reached at any one time.
As the toxic dose is a fairly large one, well-fed animals are not likely to
suffer.

ANIMALS AFFECTED: It seems that no domestic animals are immune
to the poisonous lupine, but the greatest losses are among sheep.

PLATE XXII.

Lupine.

Photo— F. Fyles.

03463—51

56

SYMPTOMS: Marsh and Clawson found that the general symptoms of
poisoning by American lupines were distinctly those of alkaloidal poisoning
and not of ictrogenic poisoning. The symptoms of poisoning in sheep are
heavy and laboured breathing, sometimes frothing at the mouth, a period
of coma with snoring. If able to stand, the animal may fall over in its
sleep. In acute cases the animal throws itself about violently in its
attempts to breathe, followed by violent trembling, convulsions and death.
In other cases the coma deepens until the animal dies without a struggle,
although the convulsive attacks are the more usual. In the early stages
there is drooping of the ears and pushing of the head against surrounding
objects. Sheep Affected on the range run about in a frenzied manner,
butting into other animals and objects. When attempts were made to
give remedies, it was found the animals lost more by the increased excite-
ment. In some cases the first symptoms appeared in one or two hours
after feeding, in others not till nearly twenty four hours. Death may follow
very rapidly or not for a period of two or three days.

REMEDY AND MEANS OF CONTROL: Remedial measures are practi-
cally of no use for range animals, but as the lupines are most poisonous
when in seed it is possible to manage the flock so as to avoid poisoning.

Seed production should be prevented at any cost. This is best done
while the plants are in their first bloom, or even before the opening of the
flowers. Continued close cutting will in time kill the roots. In some
places the land should be cultivated, where possible, and resown with good
fodder plants and grasses.

LOCO WEED. (Oxytropis Lamberti Pursh.) PEA. FAMILY.
PLATE XXIII. (Facing p. 60.)

COMMON NAMES: The loco weed or stemless locoweed is known
among stockmen as crazy weed, rattleweed, loco-vetch, and white loco.

DESCRIPTION: It is a low silky-haired perennial with tufts of very
short stems rising from a thick woody rootstock. The stems are so short
that the plant is often described as stemless. The leaves are four to nine
inches long, pinnately compound with nine to nineteen leaflets which are
longer than wide and pointed. The flower stalks are longer than the leaves,
the flowers, half to three-quarters of an inch long, vary in colour from
purple and violet to yellow or yellowish-white; they are arranged in dense
heads. The seed pods are incompletely two-celled, firm, leathery, and
covered with silky hairs. The plants vary greatly as regards hairiness,
size, and shape of leaflets, colour of flowers and size of pods. The plant i-
in bloom from April to August or later, according to locality.

DISTRIBUTION: The loco weed is common on prairies and dry plains
from Saskatchewan to British Columbia and the Yukon.

57

POISONOUS PROPERTIES: The toxic principles of the loco weed have
not yet been determined, but its poisonous action upon animals has been
fully established in Canada and the United States by field observations.

ANIMALS AFFECTED: Horses, cattle, and sheep may all form what is
known as the loco-habit, and succumb sooner or later to its poisonous
action. The greatest losses, however, in Western Canada have occurred
chiefly among cattle. The world "loco" meaning "crazy", is derived from
the Spanish, and is applied in reference to the peculiarities of movement
shown by the affected animals.

SYMPTOMS: The general symptoms of poisoning are awkwardness,
trembling, loss of control of muscular movement, impaired eyesight and
hearing. In extreme cases the animal becomes blind, loses all power of
locomotion, refuses food, except loco weed, and dies usually in convulsive
spasms.

E. A. Watson (Report Veterinary Director General, Ottawa, 1909)
describes the effect upon horses as follows: "Mental derangement and
inco-ordinate muscular action form the most constant and characteristic
symptoms of the disease. The peculiar gait is at once remarked upon,
locomotion being performed slowly and with deliberation, accompanied by
overflexion and extension of the limbs. The head is carried low, the arm
lifted high, so that the knee and chin are nearly horizontal and in close
proximity. The animal appears to be walking over invisible obstacles,
and if driven fast will frequently stumble and fall, though the ground be
perfectly level. When the condition is very severe, it is almost impossible
to force him out of a slow walk; if urged he becomes excited, moving the
limbs up and down upon the same spot, "marking time" as it were, or
moving forward only a few inches at a step. Visual errors are common.
The loss of the sense of direction is well marked. When it is attempted to
drive an animal in a particular direction he will tread in semi-circles and
run into wire fences or gates. An animal is sometimes unable to locate a
dish of oats placed before him, the attempts being often ludicrous."

REMEDY AND MEANS OF CONTROL: Give laxatives and supply good
nutritious food. Strychnine has been recommended for cattle, and Fowler's
solution for horses.

E. A. Watson says in regard to preventive measures :—" Very little
can be advised in the way of medicinal treatment. But if the spread of
the disease among healthy animals on a range where the grass and fodder
conditions appear excellent can be accounted for by the loco habit largely
acquired by imitation, it is obvious that affected animals should at once
be removed from the healthy to a range or pasture free from the obnoxious
weeds. Healthy animals on the range could be placed in charge of a
herder and kept separate from locoed animals. Instances are reported
where affected cattle, by early removal to a range free from loco plants,
or taken and hand-fed, have so far recovered as to be profitably slaughtered ,
though such animals are always stunted and undersized."-

58

The loco-weed may be destroyed by cutting off the roots well below
the crown, that is at least three inches below the surface of the soil. This
should be done with a very heavy sharp and narrow steel hoe when the
plants are in flower, or even before, to prevent the scattering of seeds.
Plants that have been so cut off will not sprout again, but seeds already
in the soil may germinate. By destroying the young plants before they
reach maturity, the land will be freed from the weed in a season or two
at far less cost than that caused by the death of live stock.

59

SPURGE FAMILY (Euphorbiacea)

{Euphorbia Helioscopia L.
\Tithymalus Helioscopia (L.) Hill/

COMMON NAMES: Among many other English names given to the sun
spurge we find wartweed, sunweed, turnsole, churnstaff, cat's-milk, wolf's-
milk.

DESCRIPTION: The sun spurge is a smooth annual plant with an erect,
stout stem from eight to twelve inches high, often branched from the
base. The branches, as well as the main stem, end in a more or less
compound umbel which is subtended by a circle of leaflets. The leaves
are scattered along the stem; they are somewhat oblong or wedge-shaped,
sometimes nearly round, from one-half to four inches long, finely saw-
edged, and narrowed to a short stalk. The rather inconspicuous flowers
are of two kinds, the staminate and pistillate on the same plant, both
included in a cup-shaped involucre resembling a calyx or corolla. The
staminate flowers are numerous, lining the inside of the cup, each con-
sisting of one single stamen in the axil of a very little bract. The pistillate
flower is solitary in the centre of the cup and consists of a three-lobed,
three-celled ovary which soon protrudes on a long stalk and hangs over
the brim of the cup-like involucre. The seeds are reddish-brown, strongly
honeycombed. The plant is in bloom from June till October.

DISTRIBUTION: Introduced from Europe, the sun spurge has become
common in east Quebec and Ontario, and is gradually spreading in Canada.

POISONOUS PROPERTIES: All species of Euphorbia or spurge con-
tain a more or less poisonous milky juice, which is very acrid, and in
contact with the skin causes extreme irritation, inflammation, vesication,
and in some cases gangrene. The poisonous substances have not yet
been fully investigated.

In regard to the spurges, H. C. Long says: "The caper spurge (E.
Lathyrus L.) contains an acrid, emetic, and highly purgative milky juice,
and the fruits have commonly been employed by country folk as a purge,
and also as a pickle, though they are dangerous and should not be so used.
Pratt records a case in which five women ate the pickled fruits with boiled
mutton, and all suffered severe pain and burning in the stomach, and showed
other symptoms attendant on irritant poisoning — and though all recovered
the illness was severe. Used in this manner, indeed, they have given rise
to serious cases of human poisoning. Sun spurge (E. Helioscopia L.)
is similarly poisonous to the preceding species. It has caused fatal
poisoning to a boy who ate it. In Germany, cows were poisoned through
pasturing in stubble in which the plant was growing, but there were no
deaths."

60

White, in his "Dermatitis Venenata," states in regard to the genus:
"More than one hundred species of Euphorbia, or spurge, grow in the
United States, either indigenous or immigrants from Europe. Of every
species Loudon says the juice is so acrid as to corrode and ulcerate the
body wherever applied; and of E. resinifera, from which the official
euphorbium is obtained, Pliny and Dioscorides, according to the Dispen-
satory, describe the method of collecting juice, so as to prevent irritation
of the hands and face. This substance is used as a plaster to prolong
suppuration."

Van Hasselt states that "the juice of several species is used by quacks
to remove warts, freckles, as depilatory, etc.; and that the application
of the juice, powder, and extract produces not only erysipelatous, pustular
and phlegmonous inflammation, but even gangrene. In one case mentioned
the whole abdominal wall became the seat of gangrene."

SYMPTOMS: According to Cornevin the spurges have an irritating
effect on the mucous membrane, especially at the back of the mouth. In
from three-quarters of an hour to two hours after eating the plant, or
even longer, there is painful vomiting, followed by diarrhoeic evacuations,
with a lowering of the temperature. If the quantity ingested has been
sufficient there appear also nervous symptoms, vertigo, delirium, muscular
tremors and circulatory troubles which disappear after abundant sweating
if the poisoning is. not fatal. If it is fatal the symptoms of superpurgation
and enteritis predominate, but are accompanied by nervous symptoms
and circulatory disorders.

Mueller gives in addition loss of appetite, piteous whining (in goats),
groaning, colic, and tympanites; and Pott, bloating, fever, palpitation of
the heart, and loss of consciousness; cows gave a reddish or sharp-tasting
milk. Milk of affected goats caused diarrhoea in human beings.

REMEDY AND MEANS OF CONTROL: The advice of a physician should
be requested. As sun spurge is an annual plant it may be suppressed by
preventing the development of the seeds. On cultivated land it should
be cut off by the hoe before or as soon as the first flowers appear. Badly
infested lands should be put under cultivation, well fertilized, and resown
heavily to grass or clover.

/-•vTvn-ciac a-m-T-n^-n / Euphorbia Cypanssias L.

CYPRESS SPURGE <m.Z . . /T N „.„ >SPURGE FAMILY.

\Jlithymalus Cypanssias (L.) hull.

COMMON NAMES: This species is also referred to as the balsam-spurge,
graveyard-weed, Bonaparte's-crown, tree-moss, quacksalver's-spurge.

DESCRIPTION: The cypress spurge is a bright green, smooth perennial
plant with small brownish scales below and numerous narrow green leaves
above. Each branch is surmounted by an umbel of many rays, with a

Loco Weed -Plate XXIII

61

circle of linear leaves subtending it. The flowers are small, each protected
by large heart-shaped, yellow bracts. The plant is in bloom from May
to September.

DISTRIBUTION: This species has also been introduced into Canada
from Europe, and has escaped from gardens to roadsides and waste places.

POISONOUS PROPERTIES: The whole plant is similarly poisonous to
the preceding species. The milky juice irritates the skin and raises
blisters, and sometimes causes serious inflammation. Cattle avoid the
plant, but have been accidentally poisoned by drinking from water into
which it had been thrown.

REMEDY AND MEANS OP CONTROL: Small patches of this weed should
be grubbed out and the rootstocks destroyed by the application of hot
brine or caustic soda. On larger areas, close cutting when the plants are
in full bloom will in time starve the rootstocks.

62

CASHEW FAMILY (Anacardiacea]

POISON IVY (Rhus Toxicodendron L.) (Toxicodendron Toxicodendron

(L.) Brit.)

PLATE XXIV.

COMMON NAMES: — Poison-ivy is also recognized under the niunc<
poison-oak, poison-vine and three-leaved ivy.

DESCRIPTION: — Poison-ivy is a low shrub which is propagated by
under-ground branches as well as by seeds. It scrambles over stumps
of trees or, as in the case of the variety radicans, it climbs by means of
serial rootlets to some height up fence posts and the trunks of trees. The
long stalked leaves are divided into three distinct leaflets, which are mostly
ovate, pointed, entire or with a few irregular coarse teeth, bright green
above, paler and slightly hairy beneath, changing to rich autumnal colours.
The flowers are small, inconspicuous, greenish or whitish, loosely clustered
in the axils of the leaves. As the flower cluster is surpassed by the long-
stalked leaves it is seldom seen unless the foliage is moved aside. The
berries are greenish-white or cream coloured, slightly shining, round,
smooth, with longitudinal ridges at intervals. The flowers are in bloom
from April till June.

DISTRIBUTION: — It is a native of Canada and is commonly found in
hedgerows, thickets and dry woods from Nova Scotia to British Columbia,
where it passes into a thicker-leaved and smoother form (R. Rydbergii
Small).

POISONOUS PROPERTIES: — Poison ivy is the worst vegetable skin
poison in America, hundreds of people being poisoned each year. The
poisonous constituents have not yet been satisfactorily determined.
Cases of poisoning are often reported where the individual has passed the
plant without coming in contact with it. This has been explained by the
fact that pollen grains, minute hairs and even exhalations from the plant
are sufficient to cause eruptions on the skin of a susceptible person. The
poison may even be carried on the clothing or tools of someone who has been
in contact with it, or it may be that, as the effect of the poison does not
appear for some time, the occasion of coming in contact with it may have
been quite forgotten. On the other hand, many people handle it frequently
with no ill effect.

Cattle can eat it with impunity, but dogs are poisoned by it.

SYMPTOMS: — Inflammation of the skin begins to appear from eighteen
hours to several days after contamination, and is characterized by intense
irritation and burning, swelling and redness, followed by blisters and pain.
Symptoms of internal poisoning are burning thirst, nausea, faintness,
delirium, and convulsions.

PLATE XXIV.

Poison Ivy.

Photo— F. Fyles.

64

REMEDY AND MEANS OF CONTROL: — Many remedies have been sug-
gested to allay this burning and irritation, one of the simplest being the
immediate washing of the parts affected with good strong yellow laundry
soap. On return from a day's outing where there was danger of meeting
with poison-ivy, the liberal use of such a soap might prevent much suffering,
a piece might even be carried in the pocket.

An application of absorbent cotton saturated with a solution of com-
mon baking soda is simple and efficacious. In the case of severe poisoning
the aid of a physician should be obtained.

To properly eradicate this pest the underground root stocks must be
destroyed as well as the flowering tops. Grubbing out and burning it
by some one who is immune to the poison is the surest means. Spraying
with hot brine, or caustic soda will kill it. One pound of caustic soda to
two gallons of water has been found most effective.

POISON SUMACH (Rhus Vernix L.) (Toxicodendron Vernix (L.) Kuntze)

CASHEW FAMILY.

COMMON NAMES: — The poison sumach is also well known as the
swamp-sumac. It is erroneously called poison elder and poison dogwood.

DESCRIPTION: — The poison sumach is a shrub or small tree from six
to twenty feet high with long pinnate leaves bearing seven to thirteen
leaflets. The leaflets are about two to four inches long and from one to
one and a half inches wide, green on both sides, with reddish stalks and
midribs. The margins are entire. The flowers are small, green, in long,
loose, open, slender panicles. The fruit is smooth, round, greenish or dun
coloured. The shrub is very attractive in the autumn, when the leaves
change to very brilliant shades of scarlet and orange. The flowers are
out in June.

The harmless sumacs may be very readily distinguished by their red
fruits.

DISTRIBUTION: — -It is a native of Canada, and is found on low wet
ground and in swamps, in Ontario.

POISONOUS PROPERTIES: — Similar to the poison-ivy, but even more
dangerous. Fortunately this species is not very common in Canada.

65

MEZEREUM FAMILY (Thymelaeacece)

WICOPY (Dirca palustris L.)
PLATE XXV.

COMMON NAMES: — This plant, so useful to the North American
Indians, retains some of their original names, as leatherwood, moosewood,
swampwood, rope-bark.

DESCRIPTION: — The wicopy is a much-branched shrub from two to
six feet high, with smooth, jointed, yellowish-green twigs and tough fibrous
bark. Like the mezereon, it produces its small clustered flowers very
early in the spring before the leaves have expanded. The calyx is petal-
like, pale yellow, tubular, with a wavy or slightly four-toothed margin
showing the protruding stamens and style. The flowers grow in clusters
of three or four and are protected from cold winds by dark hairy scales
which look like folds of fur around the silky yellow calyces. There is no
mistaking it when in flower, especially as it is one of the earliest shrubs to
bloom. The leaves are oval, two to three inches long, alternate and very
short-stalked. The reddish, oval drupe is about one-half inch long. The
plant is in bloom in April.

DISTRIBUTION: — It is a native of Canada and grows in damp, rich
woods from New Brunswick to Ontario.

POISONOUS PROPERTIES: — The bark contains poisonous properties
similar to its relative mezereon (which see) and, when fresh, causes severe
irritation to the skin, followed by blisters. All parts of the plant have
a burning, nauseous taste. The poison is most powerful during flowering
and fruiting.

MEZEREON (Daphne mezereum L.) MEZEREUM FAMILY.

COMMON NAMES: — The popular names by which this poisonous
plant is known include spurge-laurel, lady-laurel, paradise plant, mystery-
plant, and dwarf bay.

DESCRIPTION: — The mezereon is a small shrub from one to four feet
high. It bears, in early spring before the leaves are out, strongly sweet-
scented, rose-purple flowers clustered on the shoots of the preceding year.
As it has no corolla, the brightly coloured, tubular calyx, with its four
sepals outspread, lends attraction to its flowers. The leaves are long,
narrow, tapering into short stalks. The fruit is a one-seeded berry or
drupe, oval, one-quarter to one-third inch long, bright red. The plant
is in bloom from April to May.

PI.ATK XXV.

J

Wicopy.

}'koto—F.

67

DISTRIBUTION: — It is found in waste places ;ui<l pastures where it
lias escaped, from cultivation. It is locally established in Nova Scotia,
western Quebec and Ontario.

POISONOUS PROPERTIES: — All parts of me/ereon are acrid and poi~-
onous, especially the bark and berries. They contain an extremely acrid
resin inezerein, a bitter poisonous glucoside daphnin, as well as a vesicating
fatty oil. The bark has a persistent burning taste, and when freshly
applied to the skin produces inflammation and blistering. As a rule
animals reject the plant on account of its bitter taste. The abundant
bright scarlet berries are very tempting to children. A fatal case of poison-
ing was lately reported from Nova Scotia. The following from Anne
Pratt's book will show that fatalities were not rare in the Old Country.

"Death has resulted from eating but a few of these berries; and Dr.
Christison relates a case of a child in Edinburgh who died from eating
them, while another is recorded by Linnaeus of a young lady to whom
twelve of the berries were given as a medicine in intermittent fever, and
who soon died in consequence of their corrosive poison. Four berries
produced thirst, sense of heat in the mouth and throat, and also fever, in
a man who ate them, and they are proved to be poisonous to dogs and
foxes."

Even one berry chewed but not swallowed will produce intense burning
in the throat and mouth, which lasts for several hours. Drying does not
destroy the potent poison of this plant.

SYMPTOMS: — H. C. Long says: —

"The Daphnes are severely purgative, cause burning in the mouth
and throat, and in severe cases have narcotic effects and give rise to-
convulsions. Lauder gives the symptoms as intense colic, constipation,
followed by dysentery and copious evacuations of faeces streaked with
mucus, blood and intestinal epithelium. Drowsiness between the spasms.
According to Mueller there is inflammation of the stomach and intestines
(with colic, vomiting, severe diarrhoea, passing of blood), inflammation of
the kidneys (with strangury, bloody urination), and in many cases nervous
symptoms (weakness, giddiness, and convulsions).

In a case observed by Lander, in the horse, there was abdominal pain,
staggering gait, anxious countenance, laboured breathing, pulse 80, tem-
perature 103-2° F., bowels normal. On the following day there was
excessive purgation, pulse 120, temperature 104-2° F., and death occurred
at mid-day."

REMEDY: — In the case of human poisoning an emetic may be given,
followed by a soothing drink such as rice water, barley water, iced-milk,
or white of egg beaten up in cold water while waiting for medical advice,
which should be promptly summoned.

68

PARSLEY OR CARROT FAMILY (Umbelliferae)

POISON HEMLOCK (Conium maculatum L.)
PLATE XXVI.

COMMON NAMES: — This plant, known from early days as hemlock or
wild hemlock, has a number of other common names, a few of which are
snakeweed, spotted parsley, poison-root, wode-whistle.

DESCRIPTION: — An erect, much-branched biennial with round, smooth,
hollow stems from two to six feet high, covered with purplish spots which
usually disappear on drying. The leaves are large, shining, decompound,
with finely-cut leaflets, which have a very foetid and characteristic mousy
odour when crushed. The leaves are much more delicate in outline than
those of the water hemlock (cf. illustrations), the ultimate segments
ending in a small, colourless, bristle-tip. The flowers are small, white,
in large loose umbels, with a circle of bracts or small leaves at the base of
the umbels. The fruit or "seed" clusters., as they are popularly called,
are conspicuous in late summer and autumn. Each fruit is composed of
two parts, so close together as to resemble one round seed, somewhat
flattened on each side, with wavy ridges running from top to bottom.
Each part contains one seed, which is deeply grooved on the inner face.
The root is from eight to ten inches long and about one inch in diameter,
tapering, sometimes forked. It smells very much like the parsnip. The
plant is in bloom from June to August.

DISTRIBUTION: — Naturalized from Europe, the poison hemlock is
found in waste places, chiefly on dry ground from Nova Scotia to Ontario,
also in British Columbia.

POISONOUS PROPERTIES: — It is a question as to which part of the
plant is most poisonous, since authorities differ, but, as fatalities have
resulted from the consumption of even a very small portion of the leaves
or seeds or roots, it may well be said that the whole plant is deadly. It
seems that early in the summer the poisonous properties are most abundant
in the green leaves, and that later on the seeds are the most toxic, particu-
larly just before ripening. As the poisons are volatile the plant loses its
toxicity on drying, and consequently is not so dangerous to animals when
dried with the hay. The seeds, however, are most poisonous when fully
formed but still green in colour. When fully ripened their toxicity gradually
diminishes.

The plant contains the very poisonous alkaloid coniine, a colourless
liquid which gives the plant the characteristic, disagreeable, mousy odour.
The poisonous coniceine and the alkaloid methyl-coniine are also present.
as well as other substances. Greenish states, "Hemlock herb contains
coniine and conhydrine. These alkaloids are present in both stem and

PLATE XXVI.

Poison Hemlock.

Photo— F. Fyles.

63463—6

70

leaves in largest quantity when the plant is in full flower." After flowering
the alkaloids pass to the fruits and become concentrated in the partially
ripened seed.

ANIMALS AFFECTED: — Many cases of poisoning of domestic animals
have been reported from the United States. The plant is evidently most
injurious to stock early in the season, when its foliage is fresh and other
herbage is scarce.

HUMAN POISONING: — Poison hemlock is very well known historically
as a plant of evil reputation. It was in all probability the plant used by
the Greeks in the preparation of their poisonous draughts, and by which
Socrates, Phocion, and others met their death. Fatalities have also
occurred by mistaking the plant for some edible species. An old English
herbalist says, "If any, through mistake, eat the herb hemlock instead
of parsley, or the root instead of parsnip, both of which is very likely,
whereby happeneth a kind of perturbation of the senses, as if they were
stupid and drunk, the remedy is, as Pliny saith, to drink of the best and
and strongest pure wine, before it strikes to the heart, or gentian put in
wine."

The seeds have also been used in error for those of anise. Small boys
have been poisoned by making whistles out of the hollow stems of the plant.

SYMPTOMS: Hemlock has long been recognized as a very dangerous
narcotic plant. H. C. Long says, "Even the smallest quantities may
cause inflammation of the digestive organs, paralysis, and death." The
general symptoms, as given by Long, are salivation, bloating, dilation of
pupils, rolling of eyes, laboured respiration, diminished frequency of
breathing, irregular heart action, loss of sensation, convulsions, uncertain
gait, falling, and, at the end, complete paralysis. Death occurs after a
few hours. The poison acts on the motor nerve endings, causing paralysis,
dyspnoea resulting from paralysis of the pectoral nerves, and acceleration
of the heart from that of the inhibitory fibres of the pneumogastric.

Small quantities cause in the horse a little prostration, yawning,
acceleration of pulse, dilation of pupils, and sometimes muscular spasms
of the neck and shoulders. Large quantities cause nausea, unsuccessful
attempts to vomit, gritting of teeth, accelerated respiration and dyspnoea,
and muscular tremors commencing in posterior members and spreading to
anterior members and spine. There is next difficulty of locomotion,
sweating (but not continual), falling, paraplegia, then paralysis, loss of
feeling, lowering of temperature, rapid pulse, increasingly difficult respira-
tion, and death from stoppage of respiration.

With cattle there is excessive salivation, cessation of digestion,
bloating, constipation, weakness, and stupor. The milk of cows who have
eaten the weed has a disagreeable taste. Chesnut says in cows there is
"loss of appetite, salivation, bloating, much bodily pain, loss of muscular
power, and rapid, feeble pulse."

71

H. C. Long states that in sheep the abdomen is tucked up, the animal
has a dazed appearance, there is dilation of pupils, unsteady gait, the hind
limbs being dragged, coldness, and death after a few convulsive movements.

In the pig there is prostration and inability to move, coldness, slow
breathing, livid mucous membranes, imperceptible pulse, paralysis, parti-
cularly of the posterior members, and no convulsions.

REMEDY AND MEANS OF CONTROL: In the event of poisoning, profes-
sional advice must be promptly summoned. While waiting for assistance
the system should be relieved of the poison as soon as possible by use of
an emetic. Stimulants may then be given, and warmth applied to the
extremities. This weed should not be allowed to stand on any farm or
roadside. It should be grubbed out and promptly destroyed. In no case
should it be allowed to go to seed.

WATER HEMLOCK (Cicuta maculata L.) CARROT FAMILY.

PLATE XXVII.

COMMON NAMES: Other significant names given to this plant are
beaver-poison, spotted cowbane, musquash-root, snakeweed, and chil-
dren's-bane.

DESCRIPTION: The water hemlock is a tall perennial herb from three
to six feet in height. The stem is stout and streaked with purple. The
leaves are compound, but not so finely divided as in the poison hemlock
(cf. illustrations). The leaflets are saw-toothed. The small white flowers
are arranged in a compound umbel with no bracts at the base of the main
umbel. There are slender bracts at the base of each lesser umbel or
umbellet. The fruit is oval, with no groove on the inner face of the seed.
The roots are several, fleshy, in the form of oblong tubers clustered at the
base of the stem. If the base of the stem is cut lengthwise, a number of
transverse partitions will be seen in greater or less contiguity according to the
time of year and growth. The plant is in bloom from June to August.

DISTRIBUTION: Water hemlock, unlike poison hemlock, is found in
wet places, in swamps, low ground, and along streams. Native of Canada,
it is common from New Brunswick to British Columbia.

POISONOUS PROPERTIES: Of all the poisonous plants in Canada, the
water hemlocks are the most deadly and act most rapidly. All species
of cicuta are exceedingly poisonous both to human beings and animals.
Although there is some difference of opinion as to the amount of toxicity
in the upper portion of the plant, yet all agree the roots and swollen base
of the stem are the most virulent. They are usually eaten by animals
early in the season, when they offer an abundant green fodder. As they
grow on wet, soft land, the roots are easily pulled up by stock when eating
the herbage. The toxic principles are the alkaloid cicutine, with oil of cicuta
and cicutoxine, a bitter resinous substance.

63463—6|

PLATE XXVII.

Water Hemlock.

Photo— F . Fyle*.

73

ANIMALS AFFECTED : No animals appear to be immune to the poisonous
effect of this plant. Cattle and sheep, however, suffer most, as in grazing
they pull the roots up and eat them as well. Hedrick says that a piece of
root the size of a walnut was found by experiment to be sufficient to
kill a cow. Death may occur in fifteen minutes, or the intense suffering
may continue from two to several hours before death. One of our
correspondents from Alberta writes: "These are the plants (C. vagans)
that killed the cattle in that neighbourhood, and the cattle would eat them
and gnaw a hole in the ground like a bowl to get the roots, and then die
right there. There were the bones of some of the cattle poisoned last year
within ten feet of where these plants that I am sending you were growing."

HUMAN POISONING: Cases of human poisoning are too numerous
and too widespread to mention in detail. Different parts of the water
hemlock have been eaten by mistake for edible plants, the roots especially
being often mistaken for artichokes or sweet potatoes. The tubers are
especially tempting to children on account of their sweetish taste.

SYMPTOMS: The first symptoms usually occur within two hours after
eating the plant. There is nervousness, twitching of the muscles of the
mouth and ears, salivation, sometimes nausea and vomiting, bloating,
intense pain, frenzied movements, dilated pupils, spasms and convulsions,
frothing at the mouth and nose, twisting the head and neck backwards,
rolling of the eyeballs. The victim usually dies in the most violent
spasms.

BULBOUS WATER HEMLOCK (Cicuta bulbifera L.) CARROT FAMILY.

PLATE XXVIII.

DESCRIPTION: — The bulbous water hemlock is a slender perennial
plant, much branched, growing from one to three feet high. The leaves
are divided two or three times into narrow, saw-toothed leaflets. The
upper leaves are less divided and bear small clustered bulblets in the angles
formed by the leaf and stem. The white flower clusters are arranged in
umbels similar to those of the other water hemlocks. The roots also
are similar but seldom as large. It is in bloom from July to September.

DISTRIBUTION: — It is found in swamps and wet places from Nova
Scotia to British Columbia.

POISONOUS PROPERTIES: — This species and also the Western Water
Hemlock (Cicuta vagans Greene) of British Columbia, contain the same
poisonous principles as the preceding species and are equally dangerous
to all stock. Plate XXIX.

REMEDY AND MEANS OF CONTROL: — The poisonous substance of the
water hemlocks is so rapid in its action that little or nothing can be done

PLATE XXVIII.

Bulbous Water Hemlock.

Photo— P. Filet.

X

—

X
X

•

w

76

in the way of remedial treatment. When poisoning has been discovered
the animals are either dead or dying or in such excitement that any attempt
at treatment tends to hasten death.

In the case of human poisoning an emetic may be given at once and a
physician summoned.

All plants should be grubbed out and destroyed, or they may be
readily pulled by hand in the spring when the ground is soft. On large
areas where grubbing out seems impossible, the land should not be used
as a pasture.

WATER PARSNIP (Sium cicutaefolium Schrank) CARROT FAMILY.

PLATE XXX.

COMMON NAMES: — This plant is also known as the hemlock water-
parsnip.

DESCRIPTION: — The water parsnip is an erect, stout, branched per-
ennial herb from two to six feet high. The lower leaves are long-stalked
and the uppermost are nearly sessile. Sometimes a few of the lower
leaves are submersed and finely dissected, but in general the leaflets are
undivided, one and one-half to five inches long, narrow, sharply pointed
and saw-edged. The umbels and umbellets of small white flowers are
subtended by numerous narrow bracts. The fruit is oval and prominently
ridged. It is in bloom from July to October.

DISTRIBUTION: — The water parsnip is a native of Canada. It is
common in low, marshy land, swamps, and on muddy banks, across the
continent.

POISONOUS PROPERTIES : — This plant has long been held as suspicious
and it has been reported as "antiscorbutic, diuretic and poisonous" by
Hyams of North Carolina. Pammel says it has been reported as poisonous
from several different sources. As far. as is known the toxic principles
have not been investigated, but there is no doubt that it is poisonous.

One of our correspondents in Ontario recently lost several head of
cattle from eating water parsnip. In writing of the effect of this plant
upon his cows, he says: "It seemed to affect the kidneys and back. First
their water was red, then turned black as ink. They seemed to dry up.
They did not bloat at all. Their milk dried up the first day." A similar
case was reported from Saskatchewan.

PLATE XXX.

Water Parsnip.

Photo— F. Fyles.

78

HEATH FAMILY (Ericacea)
MOUNTAIN LAUREL (Kalmia latifolia L.)

COMMON NAMES: — The most familiar of the English names are
broad-leaved laurel, poison-laurel, sheep-laurel, spoon wood, calico-bush.

DESCRIPTION: — The mountain laurel is one of our most attractive
shrubs usually from three to six feet high, but in the Southern States it
sometimes attains a height of thirty or forty feet. Its leaves are bright
green on both sides, thick, with short stalks, flat and shining, oval, pointed
at each end, entire. It has beautiful clusters of showy pink flowers with
clammy stalks. The seed-capsule is round, hard, dry, clammy and many-
seeded. The plant is in bloom from May to July.

DISTRIBUTION: — This native plant is found on rocky hills, pastures
and mountain slopes from New Brunswick to Ontario.

POISONOUS PROPERTIES: — B. S. Barton (1798) says: —

"Nearly allied to the Rhododendron is the genus Kalmia. Of this
we have several species, and all of them are poisons. The Kalmia Latifolia,
or broad-leaved laurel, is best known to us. It kills sheep and other
animals. Our Indians sometimes use a decoction of it to destroy them-
selves."

All parts of the plant except the wood contain the very poisonous
constituent andromedotoxin. Many cattle and sheep are poisoned annually
by it. Poisoning usually takes place in the spring when the animals, after
the dry food of winter, are attracted by its evergreen foliage. Cases of
human poisoning have been known from eating the honey from the flowers,
or chewing the leaves in mistake for wintergreen. (Chestnut).

SYMPTOMS: The general symptoms as given by Chesnut for sheep,
cows, and goats, are as follows: —

"Persistent nausea, with slight but long-continued vomiting and
attempts to vomit, frothing at mouth, grating of teeth, irregular breathing,
partial or complete loss of sight and feeling, dizziness, inability to stand,
extreme drowsiness, coma and death" * * * "In addition to most
of the above effects, there is, in man, severe pain in the head, an increased
tendency to perspire, and often a peculiar tingling sensation in the skin
throughout the entire body."

SHEEP LAUREL (Kalmia angustifolia L.)

COMMON NAMES: Sheep-laurel is also called lambkill, sheep-poison,
wicky, kill-kid, calf-kill.

DESCRIPTION: The sheep laurel differs from the mountain laurel in its
lower stature, in its somewhat narrower leaves, which are commonly

79

opposite or in threes and pale beneath, and in its crimson flowers, which
appear later than the fresh green shoots of the season. It is in bloom
from June to July.

DISTRIBUTION: This species is also native, and is found on hillsides,
pastures, and in bogs from Newfoundland, Labrador, to Ontario, and on the
Hudson bay.

POISONOUS PROPERTIES: Of an intensive poisonous nature similar
to the mountain laurel. No doubt, other species of Kalmia, including the
swamp or pale laurel (Kalmia polifolia Wang.), are equally injurious.

80

DOGBANE FAMILY (Apocynacea)

SPREADING DOGBANE (Apocynum androsaemifolium L.)

PLATE XXXI.

COMMON NAMES: The spreading dogbane is also called honey-bloom,
bitter root, wandering milkweed, wild ipecac, rheumatism-weed.

DESCRIPTION: The spreading dogbane is a perennial herb from two
to three feet high, rich in milk-sap, with a smooth stem usually red on one
side and with spreading branches. The leaves are opposite, short-stalked,
oval, acute, entire, two to three inches long. The flowers are small, pale
rose, somewhat striped, open bell-shaped, in loose cymes, the corolla tube
much longer than the calyx, with spreading lobes, sweet-scented towards
evening. The fruit consists of two slender pods, four to six inches long.
The seeds are numerous, with a tuft of white silky down at one end. The
plant is in bloom during June and July.

DISTRIBUTION : It is found commonly in fields and thickets, and open
woods from Anticosti to British Columbia.

POISONOUS PROPERTIES: See the following species.

BLACK INDIAN HEMP (Apocynum cannabinum L.) DOGBANE FAMILY.

COMMON NAMES: This species is known also as wild cotton, rheuma-
tism-root, amy-root.

DESCRIPTION: The flowers of this species differ from the above in
being greenish-white, without perfume. The corolla lobes are ascending
and not longer than the calyx lobes. The seeds are slightly longer. The
black Indian hemp has a strong, tough fibre, at the same time fine and
soft, which is used by the North American Indians in making bags,
baskets, belts, fishing lines and nets. Both species are generally distri-
buted across the continent, but are seldom found in close proximity.

POISONOUS PROPERTIES: Both the spreading dogbane and the black
Indian hemp are said to be poisonous to live stock. As a rule the plants
are not enticing to stock as they have tough stems, but in the early summer,
when the stalks are tender and succulent and in those places where the
plant is abundant and more wholesome vegetation is lacking, animals are
tempted to eat the young green shoots.

The black Indian hemp contains the poisonous glucoside apocynin,
as well as the glucoside apocynein.

PLATE XXXI.

Spreading Dogbane.

Photo— F. Fyles.

82

MILKWEED FAMILY (Asclepiadacece)
BUTTERFLY-WEED (Asdepias tuberosa L.)

COMMON NAMES: The butterfly- weed is also known by the naim -
pleurisy-root, orange-root, Canada-root, orange swallow-wort, yellow
milkweed, Indian-posy, silk-weed.

DESCRIPTION: The butterfly-weed is an erect, stout, perennial herb.
The stem is simple or branched near the top, hairy, very leafy, from one
to two feet high. The leaves are alternate, oblong, pointed or sometime-
rounded at the apex, very short-stalked or without stalks, two to six
inches long. The greenish-orange flowers are arranged in terminal umbels,
the stalks of which are shorter than the leaves. The seed-pods, or follicles,
are very striking and characteristic of all the milkweeds. They are from
four to five inches long and one to one and a half inches wide in the middle,
tapering at both ends, and covered with fine hairs. The numerous seeds
are flat, reddish-brown, with a long tuft of fine silky down. They may be
seen in the autumn and early winter escaping from the partially opened
pod and being blown some distance by the wind. The handsome orange
flowers are in bloom from June to September.

DISTRIBUTION: Native to Canada, it is found on dry fields and banks,
chiefly in the province of Ontario.

POISONOUS PROPERTIES: The leaves and stem are poisonous. They
contain the amorphous, bitter glucoside asclepiadin. Horses and cattle
avoid eating the plant, but sheep are sometimes poisoned when driven
over dry districts where other herbage is scarce.

OTHER SPECIES OF MILKWEED IN CANADA.
PLATE XXXII.

The swamp milkweed (A. incarnata L.); the common milkweed (A.
syriaca L.), the showy milkweed (A. speciosa Torr.), and the oval-leaved
milkweed '(A. ovalifolia Dec.), all natives of Canada and similar in general
appearance to the butterfly weed but with opposite leaves, which is the
usual arrangement with most of the milkweeds, are said to be more or less
poisonous and must be viewed with suspicion until more is known of them.

PLATE XXXII

Swamp Milkweed.

Photo— F. Fyles.

84

MINT FAMILY (Labiate)

GROUND IVY (Nepeta hederacea (L.) Trev.) (Glechoma hederacea L.).

PLATE XXXIII.

COMMON NAMES : Ground ivy is also known by the following English
names: Gill-over-the-ground, haymaids, creeping charlie, robin-run-
away, hedge maids.

DESCRIPTION: Ground ivy is a low, creeping and trailing, hairy,
perennial herb, with round, scalloped leaves, green on both sides, one to
two inches wide, their short stalks placed opposite one another on the
square stem. The light blue corolla is three times the length of the hairy
calyx. The whole flower is only about half an inch long and not so wide.
The plant is in bloom from April until May or June.

DISTRIBUTION : — It has been introduced from Europe and is common in
waste places, on damp or shady ground about doorways and neglected
gardens. In the East it is found from Newfoundland to Ontario. It is
common in British Columbia.

POISONOUS PROPERTIES : Like the catnip (N. Cataria L.) ground
ivy contains a volatile oil and bitter principle.

ANIMALS AFFECTED : A fatal case (1915) of the poisoning of two
horses was reported to us from Prince Edward Island. The horses ate the
weed early in November when it afforded an abundance of fresh green in
contrast to the surrounding herbage. Our correspondent says: "The
horses panted continually. One lived for five days, the other eight days.
One would lie down occasionally, the other would not lie down. One ate
the plant till it died, the other refused to eat anything."

H. C. Long quotes a case which came before the Board of Agriculture
and Fisheries (England) in 1906, in which three horses became ill with
symptoms of poisoning, and the "only weed found in the lucerne they
were getting was ground-ivy, and this was suspected but not proved to be
the cause. In a further case, reported in 1909, eleven horses were believed
to have been poisoned by this weed, and in one of the dead horses
scarcely any food but ground-ivy was found, and to it the veterinary
surgeon in attendance attributed death."

J. Ferenchazy (1914) reports a case of poisoning of nine horses, and
states that ground ivy "has occasioned no trouble in cattle and sheep that
consumed it."

SYMPTOMS : — The symptons of poisoning in horses as given by Ferenc-
hazy are "anxious look, dyspnoea, salivation, sweating, dilation of the
pupils, cyanosis, signs of pulmonary oedema."

REMEDY AND MEANS OF CONTROL: On small patches the tops of
the plant may be easily raked off and destroyed. A shallow layer of the
soil may then be overturned to expose the numerous creeping rootstocks
in hot dry weather. The weed does not long persist on well-cultivated
land.

•— '

a

it

1 ;

•n

o
O

63463—7

86

NIGHTSHADE OR POTATO FAMILY (Solanacece)

BITTERSWEET (Solarium Dulcamara L.)
PLATE XXXIV.

COMMON NAMES : This species of Solanum is sometimes called the
woody nightshade, bittersweet-nightshade, scarlet berry, violet bloom
and fever-twig.

DESCRIPTION: The bittersweet is a climbing, somewhat woody and
hairy perennial, three to seven feet high, with thin green leaves paler on
the underside. The leaves are stalked, heart-shaped, the upper with
two ear-like lobes at the base. The flowers are loosely clustered, rich
purple with bright yellow stamens arranged in a cone at the centre. The
berries, which give the plant a very attractive appearance in the autumn,
are bright scarlet when ripe. Often on the same cluster of fruit, bright
green, pale yellow, orange, and scarlet berries are seen. The seeds are
round, flat, and yellow. The plant is in bloom from June to September.

DISTRIBUTION : Introduced from Europe, it is now rather common
in Canada from New Brunswick to Ontario, chiefly found on moist woody
banks, borders of streams, and around dwellings. It also occurs in British
Columbia.

POISONOUS PROPERTIES: The stems, leaves, and berries contain the
alkaloid solanine. The stems contain, as well, the glucoside dulcamarin
which gives the plant its peculiar bitter-sweet taste, and which has not
yet been fully investigated. The degree of toxicity of the plant has not
been determined; no doubt it varies under certain conditions. Chesnut
says, "Besides solanin (0.3 per cent) this plant contains another less
poisonous compound, dulcamarin ... Neither of the compounds
is abundant. The berry, though its taste is not remarkably disagreeable,
is somewhat poisonous, and it has been shown that an extract of the leaves
is moderately so. The plant has nevertheless caused some ill effect."
Schimpfky reports that the berries have been used to poison dogs, and the
juice of the fruit acts as a poison to rabbits.

ANIMALS AFFECTED : Bittersweet, under ordinary conditions, is
hardly likely to be eaten by stock. Gillam, however, records (Veterinary
Record, 1906) a case of poisoning of sheep.

SYMPTOMS : In the case of sheep poisoning reported by Gillam, the
symptoms given were, small, intermittent pulse, temperature 104° 1'..
quickened respiration, staggering gait, dilated pupil, and greenish diarrhoea.

REMEDY AND MEANS OF CONTROL: About thickets and on the edges
of woods where children are likely to be attracted by its crimson fruit,
the plant should be cut off when in flower, caustic soda or hot brine should

63463— 7|

88

be poured upon the roots to check new growth and in time kill the shrub.
Young plants may be readily handpulled. Older roots should be grubbed
out.

THREE-FLOWERED NIGHTSHADE (Solanum triflorum Nutt.)
NIGHTSHADE OR POTATO FAMILY.

COMMON NAMES: This species is also called the spreading or prairie
nightshade, the cut-leaved nightshade, and wild tomato.

DESCRIPTION: The three-flowered nightshade is a low spreading
annual, widely branching, sometimes forming a heavy flat mat from one
to two feet in diameter. The leaves are oblong, with seven to nine lobes.
The white flowers are arranged in groups of three. The berries are nearly
twice the size of the following species, being one-half inch, or more, in
diameter. They retain their green colour even when ripe. They are
usually in groups of three. The plant blooms from July to September.

DISTRIBUTION : This native plant is found as a garden weed in Eastern
Canada. It is becoming common on the prairies from Manitoba to
Alberta.

POISONOUS PROPERTIES: The poisonous principle of this species has
not yet been determined, but it is probably similar to the preceding.
Experiments carried on by Chesnut proved that the berries were poisonous
to guinea pigs. Chesnut and Wilcox say, "A single complaint of the
poisoning of cattle by the fruit was sent to this department from Nebraska.
and rabbits inoculated with the juice of the berries from that State were
badly poisoned."

COMMON NIGHTSHADE (Solanum nigrum L.) NIGHTSHADE OR

POTATO FAMILY.

PLATE XXXV.

COMMON NAMES: The common nightshade, equally well known as
the black nightshade, is also sometimes referred to as stubble-ben \ .
deadly, and garden nightshade.

DESCRIPTION: The common nightshade is a low, nearly smooth,
much branched, and often spreading, annual plant from one to two feet
high. The stems are somewhat rough-angled. The leaves are oval,
tapering, two to four inches long, with few-toothed or wavy margins.
The flowers are small, white, star-shaped, in drooping clusters ,of two to
five. The berries are round, black when ripe. The plant blooms from
July to September, and in the middle of the summer it is quite a common
thing to find all stages of ripening fruit from pale green to black, as well
as freshly opened flowers, all on the same plant.

PLATE XXXV.

Photo— F. Fyles.

Common Nightshade.

90

DISTRIBUTION: It is widely distributed throughout the world except
in extreme north and south. In Canada it is found on shaded as well as
open ground from coast to coast.

POISONOUS PROPERTIES: There seems to be no doubt that this plant
must be regarded as poisonous, but under certain conditions of soil and
climate the toxicity evidently varies. Thus we read that, the "berries
have been used instead of raisins for plum puddings, with no effects out
of the ordinary" (Ewart), and again "Children have been poisoned by
the berries, but may on occasion eat them with no other ill effect than a
stomach ache, or, if eaten in excess, sickness and purging" (H. C. Long).
Chesnut says: "The amount of poison present in any part of this plant
varies with the conditions of growth. The more musky-odoured plants
are the most poisonous. In some, the amount of alkaloid in the ripe fruit
and leaves is so small that these parts may be, and are, consumed in con-
siderable quantity without any ill consequences. Poisoning does some-
times follow, but it is not clear whether this is due to improper preparation
or to careless selection of the parts used. The use of black nightshade
for food is certainly not to be recommended."

The common nightshade contains the alkaloid solanine, which is
found in larger quantities in the partially ripened berries. It also contains
solanidine which, though poisonous, is not violently so. H. C. Long says
"a small quantity of solanine is present in the stem and berries, but these
are probably less poisonous than green potatoes."

ANIMALS AFFECTED: Cases of poisoning (see Chesnut) have been
recorded for calves, sheep, goats and pigs, and according to Lehmann,
Schraber, and Haller, the berries are poisonous to ducks and chickens.

SYMPTOMS: The characteristic symptoms, as given by Chesnut, are
about the same in man and animals, i. e., stupefaction, staggering, loss
of speech, feeling, and consciousness; cramps, and sometimes convulsions.
The pupil of the eye is generally dilated.

REMEDY AND MEANS OF CONTROL: As both the common nightshade
and the three-flowered nightshade are annual plants, they may be readily
exterminated by pulling or close cutting when in flower. If, however,
the fruits have already formed the cut tops should be buried in the compost
heap, where fermentation will destroy the vitality of the seed; or they may
be burned.

BLACK HENBANE (Hyoscyamus niger L.) NIGHTSHADE OR POTATO

FAMILY.

PLATE XXXVI.

COMMON NAMES: The black henbane is sometimes referred to as the
foetid nightshade, insane root, and poison-tobacco.

PLATE XXXVI.

Black Henbane.

Photo— F. Fyles.

92

DESCRIPTION: It is an annual or biennial plant from one to two and
a half feet high. The stem is coarse, hairy, and sticky. The leaves on
the stem are without stalks, oblong in general outline, with three to five
pointed lobes or sometimes entire with wavy margins. The flowers, with
very short stalks, are pale greenish-yellow, strongly and beautifully veined
with deep purple. The seed vessel is very characteristic. It is like a deep
narrow basket with a cover which opens when the seeds are ready for
dispersal. The plant is in bloom from June to September.

DISTRIBUTION: Black henbane has become naturalized in Canada,
and is found about gardens and in waste places from Nova Scotia to
Ontario.

POISONOUS PROPERTIES: It is a well-known poisonous plant, but
poisoning rarely occurs among stock on account of its strong foetid odour
and rough foliage. Chesnut records the poisoning of chickens which ate
the ripe seeds. Cornevin reports the poisoning of cows by eating the
plant when mixed with other herbage. H. C. Long says: ' There are
numbers of cases of children having been poisoned by eating the seeds.
The root has also caused accidents by being taken for other herbs, and the
young shoots and leaves have been used in error as a vegetable. A case
was reported in the press in 1910 in which twenty-five men and women
visitors at a Davos pension suffered from the effects of eating the root of
henbane given in error for horse-radish, or mixed with it. All suffered
from strange hallucinations, but with prompt and careful treatment all
had recovered in twelve hours." The poisonous principle is not destroyed
by boiling or drying. Poisoning is due to one or more alkaloids, of which
hyoscyamine is the chief.

SYMPTOMS : The symptoms of poisoning in animals as given by Welsby
are nervo-muscular exaltation, eyelids and irides much dilated, eyes
amaurotic and very bright, pulse full, temperature normal, respiration
difficult and hurried, profuse salivation, muscles of neck and extremities
in a state of tetanic rigidity, considerable abdominal distension, stercora-
ceous and renal emunctories entirely suspended, death.

REMEDY AND MEANS OF CONTROL: In the case of poisoning, profes-
sional advice should be obtained. The plants should not be allowed to
mature their seed, but should be grubbed out wherever seen.

THORN APPLE (Datura Stramonium L.) NIGHTSHADE OR
POTATO FAMILY.

PLATE XXXVII.

COMMON NAMES: Among the variety of names given to this spe.eies
of Datura, the best known are Jamestown or Jimson weed, stramonium,
devil's apple, mad apple, stinkwort. The Indians speak of it as the "White
man's plant."

PLATE XXXVII.

Thorn Apple.

Photo— F. Fijles.

94

DESCRIPTION : The thorn apple is a large and coarse annual from two
to five feet high, with pale-green smooth stems and darker green leaves.
The whole plant exhales a heavy nauseating narcotic odour. The leaves
are egg-shaped, coarsely wavy toothed or angled. The flowers are white,
two to four inches long, tubular, with fine teeth. The fruit or seed capsule
is globular, slightly longer than wide, covered with coarse prickles, breaking
open into four parts to show the numerous rather large seeds within.
The plant is in bloom from May to September.

DISTRIBUTION: It has been introduced in Canada among garden
seeds and is now found scattered throughout on waste ground.

POISONOUS PROPERTIES: It is a well-known narcotic poisonous plant.
All parts of the plant are exceedingly poisonous, especially the seeds.
Children are tempted to eat the fruit when playing where the plant is grow-
ing. Fatalities among children have occurred on several occasions in the
United States.

The plant contains the three alkaloids, daturine, hyoscyamine, and
atropine, which are highly poisonous. The toxicity is not destroyed by
drying, and cattle poisoning has been recorded in the United States where
the leaves were mixed with the hay. As a rule animals avoid the plant
on account of its unpleasant odour and strong taste.

SYMPTOMS: The general symptoms as given by Chesnut are, ''Head-
ache, vertigo, nausea, extreme thirst, dry, burning skin, and general nervous
confusion, with dilated pupils, loss of sight and of voluntary motion, and
sometimes mania, convulsions, and death."

REMEDY AND MEANS OF CONTROL: The plants should be grubbed out
or pulled wherever they have escaped from cultivation. No seeds should
be allowed to mature, and all parts of the plant should be burned.

OTHER SPECIES OF DATURA.

The purple thorn-apple (Datura Tatula L.) is another introduced
weed of a similar nature found on waste ground in Ontario. It may
readily be distinguished by its purple stem and pale violet-purple flower.
This and D. Metel L. are also narcotic poisonous plants to be equally
avoided.

95

LOBELIA FAMILY (Lobeliacece)

INDIAN TOBACCO (Lobelia inflata L.)
PLATE XXXVIII.

COMMON NAMES: The Indian tobacco is frequently called wild tobacco,
asthma-weed, gag-root.

DESCRIPTION: The Indian tobacco is a hairy annual, with an erect
branched stem from one to three feet high. The lower leaves are oval,
from one to two and a half inches long with toothed margins and short
stalks. The upper leaves have no stalks, and gradually diminish into
leaf-like bracts. Its numerous pale blue flowers are small, two-lipped,
and rather inconspicuous in the axils of the upper leaves. The seed-pods
are inflated, nearly round, with ten prominent ribs, and contain numerous
brown seeds, oblong and reticulated. The plant is in bloom from July to
October.

DISTRIBUTION: It is commonly found in fields and thickets from
Labrador to Saskatchewan. It is native to Canada.

POISONOUS PROPERTIES: The whole plant contains an acrid milky
juice, and has an unpleasant burning taste. It is used medicinally.
The leaves contain the poisonous narcotic alkaloid lobeline. Lobeline, as
well as other constituents found in lobelia, is open to further investigation,
but its action is well known. Greenish remarks, "Lobeline has an action
closely allied to that of nicotine; it first excites the nerve-cells and then
paralyses them." Millspaugh says, "Thanks to much reckless prescribing
by many so-called botanic physicians, and to murderous intent, as well as
to experimentation and careful provings, the action of this drug is pretty
thoroughly known. Lobelia in large doses is a decided narcotic poison,
producing effects on animals generally, bearing great similitude to some-
what smaller doses of tobacco, and lobelina in like manner to nicotia."

SYMPTOMS: The prominent symptoms of its action as given by Mills-
paugh are: "Great dejection, exhaustion, and mental depression, even to
insensibility and loss of consciousness; nausea, and vertigo; contraction
of the pupil; profuse clammy salivation; dryness and prickling in the
throat; pressure in the oesophagus, with a sensation of vermicular motion,
most strongly ,' however, in the larynx and epigastrium; sensation as of a
lump in the throat; incessant and violent nausea, with pain, heat, and
oppression of the respiratory tract; vomiting, followed by great prostra-
tion; violent and painful cardiac constriction; griping and drawing abdom-
inal pains; increased urine, easily decomposing and depositing much uric
acid; violent racking paroxysmal cough, with ropy expectoration; small,
irregular, slow pulse; general weakness and oppression, more marked in

PLATE XXXVIII.

Indian Tobacco.

Photo— F. Fylet

97

the thorax; violent spasmodic pains, with paralytic feeling, especially
in the left arm, weariness of the limbs, with cramps in the gastrocnemi;
and sensation of chill and fever. Death is usually preceded by insensi-
bility and convulsions."

REMEDY AND MEANS OF CONTROL: Professional advice should be
obtained immediately.

Being an annual plant, Indian tobacco may be readily destroyed by
hand-pulling or grubbing out wherever it is found in small patches. On
larger areas, enriching the soil and cultivation will in time choke it out.

OTHER SPECIES OF LOBELIA.

The great lobelia (Lobelia syphilitica L.) is suspected of being poisonous.
It is native to Ontario, and is found in low grounds.

According to Pammel, the cardinal flower (L.cardinalis L.) found in low
grounds in New Brunswick to Ontario, and the spiked lobelia (L. spicata
Lam.) another native found in gravelly or sandy soil, from Prince Edward
Island to Ontario, have been reported as poisonous.

98

COMPOSITE OR THISTLE FAMILY (Composite)

WHITE SNAKEROOT (Eupatorium ageratoides L. f.) (Eupatorium

urticaefolium Reich.)

PLATE XXXIX.

COMMON NAMES: — The white snakeroot is also known by the names
white sanicle, Indian sanicle, squawweed, richweed, white top, and deer-
wort-boneset.

DESCRIPTION: — This attractive, slender perennial of the woods grows
to a considerable height and affords a supply of rich, green herbage in the
late summer and autumn. The leaves are placed opposite one another
on slender stalks. They are from three to six inches long and from one
to three inches wide, ovate, thin, sharply pointed at the apex; rounded,
straight or sometimes heart-shaped at the base. Their margins are coarsely
and usually sharply toothed, sometimes varying to round-toothed. The
inflorescence is rather loose and open. Each flowering head, consisting
of from ten to thirty bright white flowers, is about a quarter of an inch
wide and slightly longer, somewhat bell-shaped.

DISTRIBUTION: — Snakeroot is found in rich, damp woods or on the
borders of open woods in Canada from New Brunswick to Ontario. Some-
times it grows in abundance on hillsides and lately cleared land.

POISONOUS PROPERTIES: — Although it is apparent that white snake-
root is an unwholesome plant, very little is known of its chemical constit-
uents. The earlier evidence of its connection with the disease known as
" milk-sickness " is of a rather contradictory nature. Selby states that
it is a "dangerous poisonous plant for Ohio, particularly in the more north-
erly districts. Animals which feed upon it, more especially cattle and
sheep, are frequently seized by the disease known as 'trembles', often with
fatal results. Persons who use the milk or butter from cows suffering
from this disease are many times attacked by 'milk-sickness', at times with
fatal results." He quotes from E. L. Mosely who made a chemical analysis
of this plant and found considerable quantities of aluminum phosphate
in the leaves. Moseley contends that the effect of feeding white snakeroot
to various animals is identical with the symptoms of 'trembles'. On the
other hand we have the report of A. C. Crawford as follows: —

"To sum up, it certainly cannot be said that it has been proved that
milksickness is due to any constituent of E. urticaefolium. The trans-
mission of the disease by eating small quantities of meat or milk of animals
sick with the 'trembles,' and the fact that cooked meat or boiled milk
does not produce this disorder, point primarily rather to a parasitic origin.
while the fact that Eupatorium urticaefolium is abundant in areas wh?re the
disease is not known and absent in some milksick districts also indicates
that the plant has no relation to the disease. If it does, it would be only

PLATE XXXIX.

White Snakeroot.

Photo— F. Fyles.

100

an accidental carrier of some pathogenic organism. According to report-,
the same flora may be in areas in which 'trembles' occur as in those free
from it, and milk-sickness is also said to occur where no vegetation gn>\\ -
(inclosed pens). The disease also has disappeared from an area after
simply clearing the woodland where it occurred and turning it into pasture.
Again, severe epidemics have occurred in winter when the foliage ha-
disappeared, which would tend to exclude the higher, non-evergreen plant -
as the cause of this disorder."

The later experiments however, of Curtis and Wolf, as well as those
of Marsh and Clawson (1917) are conclusive in showing that, apart from
the evident connection of milk-sickness with the symptoms caused by the
ingestion of snakeroot, there is no doubt that this plant is poisonous to
stock. The former says: . . . "white snakeroot had' previously been
claimed by Moseley to cause trembles in animals. This claim has been
substantiated by experiments with sheep in which green plants of /..
ageratoides were fed" ; and the latter: ". . . it has been clearly demon-
strated that E. urticaefolium must be counted as one of the rather important
stock-poisoning plants which produces serious losses of domestic animals."
These experiments also showed that the plant loses a large part of its
toxicity in drying.

In the following year, 1918, the experiments of Wolf, Curtis & Kaupp,
in North Carolina, also proved that trembles and milksickness were due
to this plant. According to them, the disease may appear "at any season
of the year, but is most prevalent in late summer and autumn, especially
when other vegetation is scarce because of drought. The disease is
frequently fatal in domestic animals while the sequel of milksickness in
man, in case of recovery, is lasting debility." "During the experimenta-
tion, 31 fatal cases of trembles and milksickness have been developed
among the 44 ewes and lambs that were employed in some phase of the
experimentation involving the feeding of white snakeroot. Two of the.-e
lambs contracted genuine cases of milksickness by suckling their mothers,
demonstrating that the disease may be transmitted through the milk.
This fact has for a long time been a matter of common belief among
farmers. Furthermore, animals in lactation, having access to white
snakeroot, may be apparently normal yet are capable of transmitting
milksickness through their milk."

ANIMALS AFFECTED: — The experiments referred to above proved
that white snakeroot was poisonous to all domestic animals.

SYMPTOMS: — The action of the poison is cumulative. The general
symptoms as given by Marsh and Clawson are, trembling, especially of the
nose and legs, more marked after exercise; depression and inactivity:
constipation with nausea and vomiting; pronounced weakness; difficulty
in standing, the animals sometimes remaining down for a prolonged period
before death.

101

REMEDY AND MEANS OF CONTROL: — As the plant produces an enormous
quantity of small seeds it should not be allowed to reach maturity. Grub-
bing out or repeated cutting is the only effectual means of getting rid of
this weed.

SNEEZEWEED (Helenium autumnale L.) THISTLE FAMILY.

PLATE XL.

COMMON NAMES: — Among the popular names by which sneezeweed
is known are false sunflower, swamp sunflower, and yellow ox-eye.

DESCRIPTION: — The sneezeweed is an erect, soft, downy or nearly
smooth perennial plant, growing to a height of two to six feet. The flow-
ering heads are numerous, showy and bright yellow. Each head consists
of a central raised globular mass of numerous small flowers, surrounded
by ten to eighteen bright yellow ray flowers. The leaves are without
stalks, firm, oblong, pointed at the apex and narrowed at the base. The
leaves are prolonged more or less down the stem. The seeds are top-shaped,
ribbed, and hairy, with five to eight pointed scales at one end. Helenium
blooms profusely from August to the end of October, and is often cultivated
for that reason.

DISTRIBUTION: — Sneezeweed is a native of Canadian soil, and is
found in swamps, wet meadows, and along streams from Quebec to British
Columbia.

POISONOUS PROPERTIES: — This plant is known to be poisonous when
eaten in any quantity. As a rule cattle avoid it. Chesnut says: —

" Sheep, cattle, and horses that are unfamiliar with the plant are often
poisoned by it when driven to localities where it is abundant. As a rule,
these animals avoid it, but it is said they sometimes develop a taste for it
and are quickly killed by eating it in large quantity. The poisonous
constituent has not been closely investigated, but it is known that it exists
principally in the flowers. The young plants appear to be only very
slightly dangerous. In the mature ones the amount of poison present
seems to vary greatly even in the same field. The symptoms, as deter-
mined by experiments made in Mississippi upon calves, are an accelerated
pulse, difficult breathing, staggering, and extreme sensitiveness to the
touch. In fatal cases, death is preceded by spasms and convulsions.
Melted lard has been used with good effect in offsetting the action of the
poison when given before the spasms began."

REMEDY AND MEANS OF CONTROL: — As the plant prefers wet soil,
drainage and cultivation are the best means of preventing its growth.
In small patches it may be hand-pulled taking care to get up the perennial
roots and to avoid scattering the seeds if they have already formed.

63463—8

PLATE XL.

Sneezeweed.

Photo— F. Fylt».

103

RAGWORT (Senecio Jacobaea L.) THISTLE FAMILY.
PLATE XLI. (Facing p. 104)

COMMON NAMES : Other names given to this weed are British ragwort,
tansy-ragwort, staggerwort, and stinking- willie.

DESCRIPTION: The common ragwort is a perennial (or biennial)
with short, thick rootstocks. It is sometimes quite woolly or almost
devoid of hairs. The stems are stout, simple or branched above, with
deeply-lobed and incised green leaves. The flower heads are arranged
in a broad, flat-topped cluster, each head bright yellow, in form resembling
a small daisy. It is in full bloom from July to September. The seeds are
small and easily blown about by the wind.

DISTRIBUTION: Ragwort has been introduced from Europe, and is
now naturalized in Canada from Newfoundland to Quebec and Ontario.
It is found in ballast, along roadsides, in waste places and pastures.

POISONOUS PROPERTIES : This weed has been the cause of considerable
loss among cattle in Canada. At first it was not generally recognized
that there was any connection between ragwort and the serious disease
of the liver (hepatic cirrhosis) known in Canada as the Pictou cattle
disease. The late Dr. Fletcher called attention to this suggestion in
1891. "This plant," he says, "is well known in Pictou county, and it is
stated that the majority of the farmers there believe that to it and it alone
are they indebted for what is known as the 'Pictou cattle disease.'"

At that time the average yearly loss in Pictou county, Nova Scotia,
was 200 head of cattle. The Dominion Department of Agriculture made
careful and extensive investigations (1903-6) which proved the weed
ragwort to be the cause of the disease. As it was found that sheep were
capable of assimilating the plant without injury, it was kept in check by
pasturing them on the infested areas.

In South Africa the same disease, locally called Molteno cattle sick-
ness, appeared among horses as well as cattle, and was attributed to a
closely allied species of ragwort. In New Zealand considerable attention
was given to this disease among horses, under the name of the Winton
disease, and a great effort was made to eradicate the weed (Senecio Jaco-
baea). With this object in view, sheep were pastured on an area of 4,000
acres where ragwort grew very abundantly. Although, in about a year's
time, several mortalities among the sheep occurred, Gilruth came to the
conclusion that, if the weed is not too prevalent, sheep may, with a few
exceptions, graze upon it daily without injury.

In England, recent poisoning (1917) of cattle has been reported
(Board of Agriculture) from feeding them on dried forage containing rag-
wort. In this case, as in others, the feeding had been going on for a
considerable period before any visible effects of the poison occurred,

104

showing that the action of the poison is both insidious and cumulative.
Little is known of the actively poisonous principle, but it is evidently one
or more of the alkaloids which have been isolated from various species
of ragwort.

SYMPTOMS: In regard to the cases of poisoning in Canada it was
found that the disease was progressive, and to tho careful observer certain
premonitory symptoms were visible sometimes months before more
characteristic manifestations appeared. In one case reported upon by
Pethick, by actual experiment which lasted eighteen months and twenty-
one days, death occurred only forty-four days after the first visible
symptoms. "In this case," he says, "as indeed in nearly all others, we
noticed a peculiar bleached appearance of the hair, which seemed to have
lost its lustre, a desire to be alone, irritation of temper or nervousness,
occasional chills, although in a moderately warm stable. This animal
would stand and shiver while the healthy members of the herd appeared
comfortable. The bowels are irregular, the pulse at this stage is fast
although quite strong, temperature slightly above normal." Later and
more characteristic symptoms are: visible mucous membrane pale,
eyes amaurotic, slight diarrhoea, emaciation, followed by great weakness,
staggering gait, inability to rise, and finally death.

REMEDY AND MEANS OF CONTROL: Although strychnine and iron
may be used in incipient cases with beneficial results, it was shown by
these experiments that measures of this kind are of little real value. The
best means of controlling the disease is through the eradication of the weed,
and for this purpose (Report Veterinary Director-General, 1911), "The
farmers in the counties of Pictou and Antigonish, as also those portions
of Prince Edward Island where the weed and the disease existed, were
strongly advised to make use of sheep as an economical and profitable
means of eradicating this troublesome plant. Numerous farmers followed
this advice, but many other methods of eradicating ragwort were also
inaugurated, while the practice of removing it from the hay when cut wn-
almost universally adopted. As a consequence, loss from the disease has
become almost unknown."

Ragwort Plate XL.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Barton. B. S., Collections for an Essay towards a Materia Medica of the United States,
1798-1804, Bui. No. 1 Lloyd Library, 1900.

Bessey, C. E., Poisonous Weeds. Kept. Nebraska Agr. Exp. Sta., 16, pp. 14-62.

Blankinship, J. W., The Loco and other Poisonous Plants in Montana. Agric. Coll. Exp.
Sta., Montana, Bui. 43, 1908.

Chesnut, V. K., Principal Poisonous Plants of the United States. U. S. Department of
Agriculture, Div. Bot., Bull. 20, 1898.

— Thirty Poisonous Plants of the United States. U. S. Dept. Agric. Far-

mers' Bull. 86, 1898.

Preliminary Catalogue of Plants Poisonous to Stock. Ann. Kept. Bur.

An. Ind., U. S. Dept. Agr., 15; 387-420.

— Some Common Poisonous Plants. Year Book, U. S. Dept. Agr. 1896.

— Some Poisonous Plants of Northern Stock Ranges. Year Book, U. S.

Dept. Agr. 1900.

and Wilcox, E. V., Stock Poisoning Plants of Montana. U. S. Dept. Agr.,

Div. Bot., Bull. 26, 1901.

Cornevin, Ch., Des Plantes Veneneuses, 1887.

Crawford, Albert C., Mountain Laurel, a poisonous plant U. S. Dept. Agr., Bur. of
Plant Industry, Bull. No. 121, pp. 21-35 1908. (Out of print.)

The Supposed Relationship of White Snakeroot to Milksickness or

" Trembles ". U. S. Dept. Agr. Bur. Plant Ind., Bui. 121.

Curtis, R. S., and Wolf, F. A. Eupatorium ageratoides, the Cause of Trembles, Jour. Agr.
Res. Vol. IX. 11. 1917.

Experimental Farm Reports, Ottawa, Can. 1910-1912.

Ferenczhazy, J., Poisoning Horses by Ground Ivy. Allatorvosi Lapok, 37 (1914) No. 8,
pp. 89, 90, abs. in Berlin. Tierarztl Wohnschr., 30 (1914) No. 15,
p. 259.

Fyles, Faith, Preliminary Study of Ergot of Wild Rice, Phytopathology, Vol. V, No. 3,
June, 1915.

Hadwen, S. and Bruce, A. E., Poisoning of Horses by the Common Bracken. (Pteris
aquilina L.) Dept. Agr. Can. Bui. 26, 1917.

Hall, H. M., and Yates, H. S., Stock-poisoning Plants of California. Col. of Agr., Berke-
ley, Cal., U. S., Bull. No. 249, 1915.

Halsted, B. D., Poisonous Plants of New Jersey. Agr. Exp. Sta. N.J., Bull. 135, 1899.
Hedrick, U. P., Cicuta, Agr. Exp. Sta., Oregon, U. S. Bull. 46, 1897.
Henslow, G., Poisonous Plants in Field and Garden, London, Eng., 1901.

Jackson, V., Poison Ivy and other Poisonous Plants. Agr. Col., Winnipeg, Man., Cir.
No. 12, 1915.

Jacobson, C. A., Water Hemlock (Cicuta) Agr. Exp. Sta. Bui. 81, Nevada, 1915.
Johnson, Ch., British Poisonous Plants, London, 1856, (Ed. 2, 1866).
— C. P. and Sowerby, J. E., British Poisonous Plants, 1861.

105
63463—9

106

BIBLIOGRAPHY— Concluded.

Journal of Agricultural Research, Vol. 1, No. 2, Nov., 1913.
Journal of the Board of Agriculture, July, 1917.

Journal of the Royal Agricultural Society, England, Annual Report of Consulting Botanist
for 1899, Poisonous Plants investigations, including Ranunculus acris, R. parviflorus,
R. Ficaria, etc., etc., 1899, pp. 678-688.

Long, H. C., Plants Poisonous to Live Stock, Cambridge, 1917.

Marsh, C. Dwight, The Loco-weed Disease. U. S. Dept. Agr. Farmers' Bulletin, No. 380,
1909.

— The Loco-weed Disease of the Plains. U. S. Dept. Agr. Bur. of Animal

Industry, Bull. No. 112, 1909. (Out of print.)

— • Stock-poisoning due to the Scarcity of Food, U. S. Dept. Agr. Farmers'
Bull. No. 536, 1913.

— Prevention and Losses of Live Stock from Plant Poisoning, U. S. Dept.
Agr. Farmers' Bull. 720, 1916.

— Clawson, A. B., and Marsh, Hadleigh, Larkspur or " Poison Weed."

U.S. Dept. Agr. Farmers'
Bull. No. 531, 1913.

Cicuta, or Water Hemlock. U.S.
Dept. Agr. Bull. No. 69, 1914.

Zygadenus, or Death Camas,
U. S. Dept. Agr., Bull. No.
125 May, 1915.

- Larkspur Poisoning of Live-
stock, U. S. Dept. Agr., Bull.
265, Sept., 1916.

- Lupines as Poisonous Plants,

U. S. Dept. Agr. Bull. No.
404, Dec., 1916.

- Eupatorium urticaefolium as a

Poisonous Plant, Journ. Agr.
Res., Vol. XI, 13, 1917.

Pammel, L. H., A Manual of Poisonous Plants (with bibliography by Harriette S. Kellogg.)
Cedar Rapids, la. The Torch Press, 1911.

Pethick, W. H., Pictou Cattle Disease, Dept. Agr. Ottawa, 1906.

Pratt, Anne, The Poisonous, Noxious and Suspected Plants of our Field and Woods, 1857.

Selby, A. D., White Snakeroot a Poisonous Plant. Ohio Agr. Exp. Sta., Jan., 1917.

Smith, A. B., Poisonous Plants of All Countries, 1905.

Slade, H. B., Some Conditions of Stock Poisoning in Idaho. Idaho Exp. Sta. Bull. 37, 1903.

Stockman, Sir S., Bracken Poisoning in Cattle in Great Britain, Jour. Com. Path, and
Thera., Dec., 1917.

Swingle, D. B. and Welch, H., Poisonous Plants and Stock Poisoning on the Ranges of
Montana. Montana Agr. Col. Cir. 51, 1916.

Wilcox, Dr. E. V., Larkspur Poisoning of Sheep. Exp. Sta., Montana, U. S. Bull. 15, 1897.
Willing, T. N., Plants injurious to Stock. Dept. Agr., Regina, Bull. 7, 1903.

INDEX

Acorus Calamus

Actaea alba

' arguta

' neglecta

' rubra

" var. dissecta

' spicata

Agrostemma Githago

Alopecurus pratensis

Aluminum sulphate

American pulsatilla

white hellebore

Amy-root

ANACARDIACEAE

Andromedotoxin

Anemone

Crocus

Anemone patens var. Wolfgangiana. .

Anemonine

Anthoxanthum odor alum

Anticlea elegans

APQCYNACEM

Apocynein

Apocynin

Apocynum androsaemifolium

cannabinum

Apple

Devil's , . . .*

Mad

Thorn

ARACE&

Arisaema Dracontium

triphyllum

Arrhenatherum elatius

Arum —

Arrow VII,

Three-leaved

Water VII,

ARUM FAMILY

ASCLEPIADACEjE

Asclepiadin

Asclepias incarnata

" ovalifolia

" speciosa

" syriaca

" tuberosa

Ash-
Prickly

Asthma-weed

Atropine

Avena fatua

PAGE

26

42

44

42

42

44

42

32

4

1

37
23
80
62
78
35
37
37

35,37
4
23
80
80
80
80
80

92
92
92
18
18
18
6

20

18

20

18,20

82
82
82
82
82
82
82

45
95
94
17

60

Balsam-spurge

Baneberry —

White VIII, 42

Red VIII, 42

Barberry 47

Barley 4, 13

Bark-
Rope 65

Barren Brome Grass 6

Bearded-darnel

Beaver-poison

BERBERIDACE&. .:

Berberine

Biting crowfoot

Bitter-root

Bittersweet XI ,

nightshade XI,

Black-henbane XI ,

" Indian-hemp X,

" Nightshade

•Blisterwort

Bloodroot IX,

Blueberry-root

Bluecohosh VIII,

Blue-flag .....VII,

Blue-ginseng

Blue-Grass —

Canadian

Kentucky

Bog-onion

Bonaparte's-crown

Bottlebrush

Bouncing-Bet

Bracken

Brake

Briza media

Broad-leaved laurel

Bromus sterilis

BUTTERCUP FAMILY

Buttercup —

Meadow

Small-flowered VIII ,

Tall VIII,

Butterfly-weed X ,

Cabbage —

Clump-foot

Swamp

Calf-kill

Calico-bush

Calla

" palustris

Calochortus

Caltha asarifolia

" biflora

" chelidonii

" palustris

" leptosepala

Camas —

Death

Smooth

Swamp

Camass

Camassia

Campion —

Corn

Rose

Canada moonseed VIII ,

" root

20
20
78
78
20
20
23
38
38
38

25,37
38

3,21
23
23
21
23

32
32
45

82

107

108

I NDEX— Cord inued.

PAGE

Canadian blue grass 6

Cardinal-flower 97

CARROT FAMILY 68, 71, 76

CARYOPHYLLACE& 32

CASHEW FAMILY 62, 64

Cat's-milk .

Caulophylline

Caulophyllum thaliciroides

Celandine —

Greater IX ,

Celery-leaved crowfoot

Cenchrus tribuloides.

59
47

47

52
35
17

Chelerythrine 51, 52

Chelidonine 52

Chelidonium majus 52

Children's-bane 71

Churnstaff 59

Cicuta bulbifera 73

" maculata 71

" vagans

Ciculine 71

Cicutoxine 71

Claviceps purpurea

Clumpfoot-cabbage 20

Cockle-
Corn 32

Cow VII, 33

Purple VII. 2. 3, 32

Cohosh —

Blue VIII,

Colchicum 35

Common-nightshade

COMPOSITE

Conhydrine

Coniceine

C 'oniine 68

Conium maculatum 68

Coral-and-pearls

Cornfield horsetail 11

Cowbane —

Spotted 71

Cowslip 37

Cow-herb

Crazy-weed 56

Creeping-charlie

Crocus anemone 37

Crocus —

Wild 37

Crowfoot —

Biting 35

Cursed VII, 2,3,35

Celery-leaved 35

Tall 36

Crow-poison

Cursed crowfoot VIII, 35

Cut-leaved-nightshade 88

Cypress spurge IX , 60

Dactylis glomerata 6

Daphne mezereum 65

Daphnin 67

Darnel 3, 1J

Bearded

Poison 13

White.. 13

Datura Metel

" Stramonium

" Tatula

Daturine •* •

Deadly-nightshade

Death camas VII ,

Deerwort-bonoset

Delphinium (Jonsolida

bicolor

glaucum ,

menziesii

nelsonii

Staphisagria

Delphinine

Delphinoidine

Delphisine

Devil's-apple

" bite. .

ear ...:..,

" milk

Dirca palustris

DOGBANE FAMILY

Dogbane —

Spreading X

Dogwood —

Poison

Dragon —

Green

Dragon turnip

Duck's-foot

Dulcamarine. .

Dwarf-bay

Easter-flower

EQUISETACEM

Equisetum arvense

ERICACEAE

ERGOT FAMILY

" of Rye

Ergotism

Ergoloxine

EUPHORBIACEAE

Euphorbia Cyparissias

" Helioscopia

Euphorbium

Eupatoriurn ageratoides

" urticaefolium

False hellebore VII ,

False-sunflower

Fern-brake

FERN FAMILY

Fescue —

Meadow

Reed

Festuca arundinacea

" elatior

Fever-twig

Flag-
Blue

Poison

Water

Fleur-de-lis

Flower-de-luce

PAGE
94
92
94
94
88

3, 21
98
39
39
39
39
39
39
39
39
39

47,92
23
18
52
65
80

80
64

18
18
47
86
65

37
11
11
78
4

3,4

6

6

59

60

59

60

98

98

23

101

9

9

6

6

6

86

26
26
26

•jr.
26

109

INDEX— Continued.

PAGE

Gag -root 95

Garden-nightshade

Garget 30

Gill-over-the-ground 84

Githagism

Glecoma hederacea 84

GRAMINEM 13

Grass —

Alkali 21

Barren-brome

Canadian-blue. : 6

Foxtail 17

Holy 4

Kentucky-blue 6

Meadow-fescue

Orchard 6

Quaking 6

Reed-canary 4

Reed-fescue 6

Sweet vernal 4

Tall-oat 6

GRASS FAMILY 13

Graveyard-weed 60

Greater celandine 37

Green dragon VII, 18

" lily 23

Ground-Ivy XI, 84

" lemon... 47

HYPOCREACE&.

PAGE

4

Hairballs

Haymaids

HEATH FAMILY

Hedge-maids

Helenium autumnale

Hellebore —

American-white

False

Swamp

Helleborin

Hemlock —

Poison

Water

Wild

Hemlock-water-parsnip .
Hemp —

Indian

Henbane —

Black.

37

84
78
84

101

33

33

33

38

68
71
68
76

80

90

Hepatic cirrhosis 103

Herb-christopher 42

Hierochloe odorata 4

Hog-brake 9

Hog's-potato 21

Holy grass 4

Homochelidonine . . 51

Honey-bloom 80

Honeydew 4, 6, 7

Hordeum jubatum 17

Horsetail 3, 11

Cornfield 11

HORSE-TAIL, FAMILY 11

Hyoscyamine 92, 94

Hyoscyamus niger 90

Ictrogen 54

Indian Hemp X, 80

" poke 23

" posy 82

" sanicle 98

" tobacco XI, 2, 18, 95, 97

" turnip 18

1 RID ACE 'M.. 26

Iridine

IRIS FAMILY

Irisine

Iris versicolor

Itch-weed

Ivy —

Ground XI,

Three-leaved

Jack-in-the-pulpit VII,

Jamestown-weed

Jervine

Jimson-weed

Jointed rush. .

Kalmia augustifolia . .

" latifolia

" polifolia.
Kentucky blue grass .

Kill-kid

King-cup

Knight's-spurs

LABIATE

Lady-laurel

LambkiH

Laportea canadensis.

Lark's claw

" heel

Larkspur VIII,

Low VIII,

Tall VIII,

Laurel

Broad-leave I

Lady

Mountain X,

Pale X,

Poison

Sheep X,

Swamp X,

Leatherwood

LEGUMINOSCE

LILIACEM

LILY FAMILY

Lobelia XI,

" cardinalis

" inflata

" spicata

" syphilitica

LOBELIA FAMILY

LOBELIACEAE

Label na

Lobeline

26
26
26
26
23

84
62

18
92
38
92
11

78
78
79
6
78
37
39

84
65
78
27
39
39

3,39

39

39

3

78
65

78, 79
79
78
78
79
65
54
21

21,23

21, 95
97

21,95
97
97
95
95
95
95

110

INDEX— Continued.

PAGE

Loco-vetch 56

Loco weed IX, 3, 56

Stemless IX, 56

LOLIUM TEMULENTUM 13

Lupine IX, 3, 54

Perennial 54

Lupinidine 54

Lupinosis 54

Lupinus perennis 54

Lysichiton camtschatcense 20

Mandrake 47

Marsh marigold VIII, 25, 37

May-apple IX,

" blobs

Meadow fescue

" foxtail

" gowan

" pine

MENISPERMACEM

Menispermum

Menispine

Mezerein

Mezereon IX,

MEZEREUM FAMILY

Milk-
Devil's

MILKWEED FAMILY

Milkweed —

Common X,

Oval-leaved X,

Showy

Swamp X,

Millet

MINT FAMILY

Moonseed —

Canada

MOONSEED FAMILY

Moosewpod

Mountain-laurel X,

Musquash-root

Mystery grass

" plant

Necklace-weed

Needle-grass

Nepeta hederacea

NETTLE FAMILY

Nettle---

Dwarf

Slender VII,

Stinging

Western.... ..VII,

Wood VII,

Nicotia

Nightshade —

Common XI,

Cut-leaved XI,

Garden

Spreading

Woody

47
37
6
4
37
11
45
45
45
67
65
65

52

82

82
82
82
82
17
82

45
45
65
78
71
21
65

42
13
84
27

27
27
27
27
27
95

88
88
88
88
86

Oats-
Wild

Orange-root

Orange-swallow-wort .

Orchard grass

Oxyacan thine

Oxytropis Lamberti . .- .

Pale-laurel

PAPAVERACE&

Papoose-root

Paradise-plant

PARSLEY FAMILY

Pasque flower VIII,

PEA FAMILY

Peltandra virginica

Perennial lupine

Phalaris arundinacea -

PHYTOLACCACEjE

Phytolacca americana

" decandra

Phytolaccine

Phytolaccotoxin

Pigeon-berry

PINK FAMILY

Pleurisy-root

Poa compressa

" pratensis

Podophyllin

Podophyllum peltalum

Poison —

Beaver

Crow

Poison-berry

Poison-darnel

Poison-dogwood

Poison-hemlock X,

Poison elder

Ivy IX,

laurel

oak

onion

root

sego •

sumach IX,

vine

Poke-
Indian

Poison VII,

POKEWEED FAMILY

Pole-cat weed

POLYPODIACEAE

POPPY FAMILY

Porcupine grass

Potassium permanganate

POTATO FAMILY 86,

Prairie anemone

" nightshade

" smoke

Protopine

Pteridium aquilinum

Pteris aquilina

Pulsatilla patens

Purple thornapple

17

82

82

6

45
56

79
51
47
65
68

3,37
54,56
20
54
4
30
30
30
30
30
30

32,33

82

6

6

49
47

71
23
42
13
64

3, 68
64
62
78
62
21
68
21
64
62

23
30
30
20
9

51, 52

15

1

90,94
37
88
37

51,52

9

9

37

94

Ill

INDEX— Continued.

Quack-salver's spurge .

Quaker-bonnets

Quaking grass

60

54

6

Ragwort

XI, 3, 103

Tansy

103

RANUNCULACErf!

35

Ranunculus aborlivus

36

acns

36

reptans

36

sceleratus

35

Rattleweed

56

Red-Indian-paint

51

Redroot

51

Reed canary grass

4

" fescue

6

Rheumatism-root

80

weed

80

Rhus Toxicodendron

62

" Vernix

64

Richweed

98

Rob in-run-away

84

Rope-bark

65

Rye -.

...4,67,

Sand-bur

" flower

Sanguinana canadensis .

Sanguinarin

Saponaria offidnalis . . . .
" Vaccaria. .

17

37

51

51

33
33

Saponin '. 30J 32, 33, 47

Scarlet-berry 86

Scoke 30

Scouring-rush 11

Senecio Jacobaea 103

Setaria 17

Sheep-poison 78

Sium cicutaefolium 76

Skunk cabbage VII, 20

Western 20

Smaller spearwort VIII, 36

Smooth camas VII, 23

Snake-berry 42

" bite 51

" pipes 11

" root XI, 3

Snakeweed 68, 71

Sneezeweed XI, 101

Soapwort 33

SQLANACEM 86

Solanidine 90

Solanine 86, 90

Solanum Dulcamara 86

" nigrum 88

" tnflorum 88

Soldiers' buttons 37

Spathyema foetida 20

Spermoedia Clavus 4

Spoon-wood 78

Spotted-cowbane 71

" parsley 68

Spreading-dogbane X, 80

nightshade 88

PAGE

Spurge —

cypress IX, 60

quack-salver's 60

sun IX, 59

SPURGE FAMILY 59, 60

" laurel 65

Squaw-root 47

" weed 98

Squirrel-tail grass 17

Staggerwort 103

Staphisagrine 39

Starch-wort 18

Stemless loco weed 56

Stinking poke 20

" Willie 103

Stinkwort 92

Stipa comata 15

" spartea 15

Stramonium 92

Stubble-berry 88

Sundial 54

Sunflower —

False 101

Swamp 101

Sun-spurge IX, 59

Sunweed 59

Swamp cabbage 20

" camas 23

" milkweed X, 82

" sumac 64

" sunflower 101

Swallow-wort 52

Swampwood 65

Sweet flag 26

" slu nber 51

" vernal grass 4

Symplocarpus foetidus 20

Tall-crowfoot 36

" oat-grass 6

Tansy-ragwort 103

Tare 13

Temuline 13

THISTLE FAMILY 98, 101, 103

Thorn apple XI, 92

Three-flowered nightshade 88

Three-leaved arum . . 18

Three-leaved ivy 62

THYMELAEACE^ , 65

Tithymalus Cyparissias 60

" Helioscopia .' 59

Toad-root 42

Tobacco —

Indian XI, 2, 95

Poison 90

Wild 95

Toxicoscordion gramineum 21

Tree-moss 60

Turnip —

dragon

Indian :

Turnsole 59

Turmeric. . 51

112

INDEX— Concluded.

Umbrella-plant

PAGE

47

Wicky.

UMBELLIFERM. .

68

Wicopy jx

URTICACE&

27

Wild barley

Urtica dioica

27

" cotton

" gracilis

27

Wild crocus

" holosericea

27

hemlock

" Lyattii

27.

ipecac

" ' wens

27

" oats

Vaccaria Vaccaria

33

" pea

Vegetable-calomel

47

lupine

Veratrum viride

«1, 25
23

tobacco
tomato

Vine-maple

45

\Vode-whistlc

Violet-bloom

86

Wolf's-milk

Woody nightshade ....

Wandering-milkweed

80

Wart-flower

52

Wartweed

59

Yellow ginseng . . .

Water-arum

20

" milkweed. .

dragon

37

ox-eye. . . .

goggles

37

parilla. .

" hemlock

X, 3 71

" sarsaparilla

" parsnip

X 3 76

White-beads

42

" berry

42

Zanthoxylwn ainericanum

White-man's plant

92

Zygadenine

" sanicle

... 98

Zygadenus chloranthus

White snakeroot . . .

XI, 3,98

venenosus

" top..

98

PAGE

78
65
17
80
37
68
80
17
54
54
95
88
68
59
86

47
82
101
45
45

45
21
23
21

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