PRIMULALES — PRIMULACEAE 



675 



Distribution. Low grounds from Rhode Island to Florida, Tennessee and 

 Arkansas. 



Poisonous properties. All three species are poisonous. The leaves of the 

 fetter-bush contain a narcotic poison, the andromedotoxin C^^H-jO^^, and have 

 been known to kill sheep. Sheep have also been poisoned by the mountain 

 fetter-bush. The stagger-bush received its name because of the intoxicating 

 effect of its leaves on sheep and cattle. 



PRIMULALES 



Herbs or shrubs ; corolla mostlj- present, gamopetalous ; stamens borne on 

 the corolla as many as its lobes or twice as many or more. The family Pltiiii- 

 bagiimceae contains Statice, growing mostly in saline soil along the coast. It is 

 used as an astringent, particularly in diarrhoea. The baycurn (Statice brasilicn- 

 sis) is one of the most powerful astringents, and is used locally as a gargle. 



Fig. 386. Stasger-busli {Lyonia viari- 

 ana), showing flowering branch, one-third 

 natural size. It contains a narcotic poison. 

 (Chesnut, U. S. Dept. Agr.) 



Primulaceae. Primrose Family 



Herbs with simple leaves and regular flowers ; calyx 5-parted ; stamens as 

 many as the lobes of the gamopetalous corolla and borne upon it; ovary 1-celled. 

 bearing several or many seeds ; calyx free from the ovary or partly adherent 

 A small order with about 28 genera, and 350 species, of wide distribution in 

 the northern hemisphere, many of them arctic. 



