1913] The Ottawa Naturalist. 47 



an exhaustive work of nearly a thousand pages, a general idea 

 of the nature and scope of Dr. Pammel'st book can be given 

 and special reference may be made to the various kinds of 

 vegetable poisons and the species or groups of species of plants 

 which are most injurious to man and other animals. An idea 

 of the completeness with which Dr. Pammebs work has been 

 done may be gathered from the fact that 1,097 books and papers 

 are enumerated in the bibliography -of poisonous plants which 

 concludes the volume. 



The introductory chapters deal with Bacterial Poisons; 

 Dermatitis or skin diseases caused by plants; Forage Poisoning, 

 Ergotism and Aspergillosis, the latter caused chiefly by moulds; 

 and Poisoning from Fungi. It is, however, chiefly plants of 

 the higher orders that will be referred to in this summary and 

 onlv the commoner or best known species, the order followed in 

 their enumeration being that of Engler and Prantl and Gray's 

 Manual. 



The onlv fungi that need be mentioned are of the genus 

 Amanita of which .4. muscaria, Fly Agaric, and .4. phalloides, 

 Death Cup, are the commonest and most dangerous species. As 

 distinguished from the ordinary mushroom, both species have 

 white gills and a bulbous base, while the mushroom has pink or 

 brownish gills and is without a bulbous base. Both species of 

 Amanita grow usually in woods or along the borders of woods 

 and seldom on lawns or in open fields. There are no ferns that 

 are known to be very injurious to animals, although some are 

 suspected of being so, but Equisetum arvense when in large 

 quantitv frequentlv poisons and sometimes kills horses. This 

 has been proved by recent experiments, but fortunately it seems 

 to be onlv the dried plant that is injurious. Hay which contains 

 much Equisetum should not be used either for food or bedding. 

 Many grasses are poisonous under certain conditions, but 

 recent research shows that much of the poisoning that has 

 been attributed to grasses is due to fungus growths rather than 

 to the grasses themselves. Lolium temulentum. Poison Darnel, 

 has long been known to be poisonous, its effects being usually 

 seen when it is ground up with wheat. Some species of Arace 

 such as Acorns Calamus, Symplocarpus festidus, Calla palustris 

 and both species of Arisaema are acrid and under some conditions 

 poisonous. Onlv a few species of liliaceous and orchidaceous 

 plants are poisonous. Zygadenus frequently poisons sheep and 

 other stock in the west, but so far as experiments have gone 

 onlv before the plants flower, and animals are usually killed by 

 eating the leaves, or more frequently the bulbs, before the plant 



tManual of Poisonous Plants, by L. H. Pammel. Ph. D.\ The Torch 

 Press, Cedar Rapids, towa, USA 



