574 MANUAL OF POISONOUS PLANTS 



Poisonous properties. Friedberger and Fruhner in Veterinary Pathology 

 give the symptoms from Cicer poisoning: 



In horses roaring and difficult breathing, owing to paralysis of the laryngeal muscles; 

 paralysis, weakness in the loins, suffocation. Post-mortem reveals nothing of moment. 

 Therapeutics: Change of fodder; tracheotomy. 



21. Phaseolus L. Bean 



Usually vines with pinnately 3-foliate leaves, stipules and racemose f.owers; 

 calyx S-toothed or S-cleft, the upper teeth more or less united; standard orbicular 

 recurved, spreading; keel spirally coiled enclosing the stamens and style; 

 stamens diadelphous, 9 and 1 ; style bearded ; pod linear 2-valved, several seed- 

 ed; seeds with large embryo. About 170 species mostly of tropical regions; 12 

 species native to southern states. The common bean {Phaseolus vulgaris), 

 native to tropical America is v/idely cultivated. The scarlet runner {P. niulti- 

 florus) is widely cultivated as an ornamental plant and is said to be poisonous. 

 The P. Mungo is cultivated in the tropics. 



Phaseolus lunatus L. Lima Bean 



A twining plant with racemose flowers shorter than the leaf; pod broad and 

 curved, scimitar shaped; seeds few, large and flat; some dwarf, some with long 

 twining stems. 



Distribution. Widely cultivated, native to South America. 



Poisonous properties. Several cases of poisoning from the use of lima beans 

 are reported. L. Guignard, according to an abstract in the Experiment Station 

 Record, has determined this to be due to hydrocyanic acid. He says : "A num- 

 ber of forms that have been described as distinct species are by the author be- 

 lieved to be varieties or cultural forms of P. lunatus. Those principally studied 

 were the white and colored Java beans, Burma or white Indian beans, Sieva 

 beans. Cape beans, which are extensively cultivated in ^Madagascar, and Lima 

 beans. These different varieties are widely cultivated and extensively used 

 as food, although a number of fatalities have been attributed to their use. 

 Descriptions of the different varieties and detailed reports of the chemical 

 studies are given. 



Practically all varieties of P. lunatus, whether wild or cultivated were found 

 to contain the principle which when acted upon by an enzyme yields hydro- 

 cyanic acid. The proportion of hydrocyanic acid varied from almost inap- 

 preciable amounts in some of the more improved forms, like the Lima bean, to 

 as much as 60 to 320 mg .per gm. dry weight in certain varieties of Java beans. 

 It was found impossible by cooking to remove all the cj-anogenetic compound 

 in Java beans. Prolonged boiling extracts the greater part, but it is merely 

 withdrawn and not destroyed, and if the water is absorbed it presents the same 

 danger as the beans themselves, since cither in the alimentary tract or in the 

 blood are sufficient ferments to act upon the dissolved glucoside, resulting in the 

 liberation of hydrocyanic acid. 



GERANIALES 



Herbs, shrubs or trees; petals usually present and generally polypctalous; 

 sepals mostly distinct ; stamens few, rarely more than twice as many as the 

 sepals, opposite them when as many; compound ovary superior. Contains the 



