Botanical Society of Edinburgh. 503 



kie " at the former, as those of the Fish River at the latter place, 

 produced it in abundance. The plant was always regarded as an 

 enemy, but I never saw it eaten by cattle except in the instance which 

 I have detailed. 



It is not possible for me to state the precise time in which death 

 followed from eating it. I think, however, I may venture to offer 

 from three to nine hours as the most probable time. Long before 

 the heat of day had operated on the dead, the dilated eyes and the 

 frothy nostrils and mouths of the poisoned cattle were commented 

 upon, whilst we scrambled over them at morning parade, as indicative 

 of a more suffering death than such faithful companions of our toils 

 deserved. Symptoms of gastritis were marked by their previous 

 meanings : further than this, however, it is not in my power to speak 

 with certainty. 



I am indebted to the kindness of Prof. Balfour for the probable 

 botanical name of the plant. A rough sketch taken at the " Tarka '* 

 has been identified as that of Vieusseuxia tripetaloides, one of the 

 Iridaceae, an order numerously represented in Southern Africa. 



It only remains for me to notice, that from the solidity of the 

 ground it is next to impossible that any of the roots could have been 

 got up ; poisoning was, therefore, due to the flowers, stem and leaves. 

 I have also eveiy reason to believe that every one of the oxen which 

 had eaten of the plant died. 



Dr. Balfour stated that he had determined the plant as far as possi- 

 ble from the drawing by Mr. Dalyell, and that he considered it to be 

 Vieusseuxia tripetaloides, D.C., Iris tripetala, Thunberg, aud Morcea 

 fripetala, Ker. He also stated that several of the Cape Iridaceae 

 seemed to be poisonous, and referred especially to Homeria collina as 

 noticed in Dr. Pappe's ' Prodromus of the Cape Medical Flora.' " I 

 introduce this plant," says Dr. Pappe, " (which is known to almost 

 every child in the colony as the Cape Tulip), not for its therapeutical 

 use, but for its noxious properties. The poisonous quality of its 

 rhizomes appears to have been known to some extent years ago, but 

 judging from the rapidity with which death ensued in a recent case, 

 when they had been eaten by mistake, it must be of a very poisonous 

 kind. To Dr. Laing, Police Surgeon of Cape Town, I am indebted 

 for the particulars of a most melancholy case of poisoning caused by 

 this plant. A Malay woman, somewhat advanced in years, with her 

 three grandchildren respectively of the ages of twelve, eight, and six, 

 partook on 18th September 1850 of a supper consisting of coffee, fish 

 and rice, and ate along with this a small basinful of the bulbs of 

 Homeria collina. The exact quantity which each ate is not well 

 known. They appear to have supped between 7 and 8, and retired 

 to bed at 9 o'clock, apparently in good health. 



" About one in the morning the old woman awoke with severe nausea 

 followed by vomiting, and found the children similarly affected. She 

 endeavoured to call for assistance, but found herself too weak to leave 

 her bed ; and when at five o'clock assistance arrived, the eldest girl 

 was found moribund,"^and expired almost immediately. The little 

 boy of eight years died an hour afterwards ; and the youngest child 



