122 THE AMERICAN BOTANIST 



valuable feature of this species is found in the leaves which 

 are two feet or more long, about a third of an inch wide, and 

 so strong and at the same time so flexible that thev may be 

 used for tying all sorts of garden plants, being fully as satis- 

 factory as raffia in this respect. With a plant or two of 

 this, one grows his own tying material and thus is relieved 

 of the necessity for keeping twine or raffia close at hand. 



Red Papoose. — A reader asks whether the name red 

 papoose refers to the red trillium {Trilliuiu crcctuui) or to 

 some other plant. So far as we are aware the onlv name 

 with papoose in it is papoose-root applied to the blue cohosh 

 (Caiilopliylliiiii ihalictr aides). The adjective in the name in- 

 (|uired about, suggests that it must refer to a plant with a 

 red flower or with red juice and mav perhaps refer to some 

 trillium. but before we can be certain we need more informa- 

 tion a])()ut it. Trilliuni crcctuui bears the name of squaw- 

 root and birth-root and might easily become known as pa- 

 poose-root or red papoose. 



Rni'BARB Leaves Poisonous. — It is not always safe to 

 assume that because one part of a plant is harmless, all parts 

 are. The elder potato, black nightshade and other common 

 plants are evidence of this. Occasionally we hear of people 

 eating the leaves of the garden rhubarb as a pot-herb, but 

 such use of the leaves is not entirely without danger. The 

 petioles of the rhubarb have been used from time immemorial 

 as material for pies and sauces and although one of the acids 

 in the i)lant is the deadly oxalic acid, there is no danger in 

 such use. but the blades of the leaf are poisonous and should 

 be avoided. Unless one eats an unusual cpiantity of cooked 

 leaves, the poisoning is not sufficient to cause death, but the 

 eating" of any quantity is likely to produce a violent stomach- 

 ache and incline the eater to meditate seriously upon his past. 



