I 



i 



1612 



LOBELIA* Tiipa 



The Tupa-Poison Plant, 



/ -*. 



SYNGENESIA MONOGAMIA. 



Nat. ord. Lobeliace^e Juss. 



Botany, p. 187.) 



If 



f< 



L. Tupa ; tomentosa, caule erecto angulato foliisque oblongis decurrentibus 

 rugosis incanis, racemo terrainali folioso multifloro, calyce subrotundo 

 5-dentato velutino, corolla tomentosa fiss& alt& 5-partita : laciniis paral- 

 lelis falcatis secundis obtusis. 



L. Tupa. Linn. sp. pi. 1318. Willd. sp. pi. 938. Romer et Schultes, 



5. 38. Bot. mag. 

 puntium spies 

 2. 739. t. 29. 



* 



Of this plant we read as follows in the curious Journal 

 of Father Feuill6e, who visited the west coast of South 

 America between the years 1707 and 1712. 



" Ail this plant is a most ready poison ; its root yieldeth 

 a deadly milk, as also doth its stem ; the odour of its flowers 

 produceth cruel sickness. When one handleth them, care 

 must be had not to bruise them between the fingers ; for if 



thereafter rubbeth his eyes, some of the milk havn 

 d them, a man will surely lose his sight, as hath be 



& 



remarked by experience. *** I found this plant on the 

 mountains of the kingdom of Chily, as high as 37 degrees 

 of south latitude." 



We have no evidence of the accuracy or inaccuracy of 

 this statement; but we know that all Lobelias are dan- 



* See fol. 1200. 



