156 POISONOUS PLANTS 



difficulty. They remain lying down for \ long 

 time. The supply of milk fails. Fever follows 

 and other serious troubles ; in some cases so violent 

 are they that death ensues. 



It is found that not only the oak but the horn- 

 beam, the hazel, the privet, the furze and the broom 

 in the young condition are apt to produce similar 

 complications. Now all these contain tannin when 

 the foliage is full grown — but then this product is 

 perfectly harmless : so that the belief at present is 

 that certain substances, which subsequently becorae 

 tannin, are injurious in that previous condition in 

 which they occur in the young and early spring 

 foliage of these trees and shrubs. 



Gymnosperms. 



Pine Family {Coniferce). Only three plants 

 (trees and shrubs) represent this group in England, 

 Scotland, and Ireland — the Scotch Fir, the com- 

 mon Juniper, and the Yew. Numerous species of 

 pines and firs are found in the cooler regions of the 

 northern hemisphere ; their representatives in the 

 southern being quite different, such as the familiar 

 *' Monkey-puzzle " tree {Araucaria imbricata from 

 Chili). 



Cryptogams (such as ferns, together with club- 

 mosses and other flowerless plants) constituted a 

 large proportion of the forests of bygone ages, 



