684 



MANUAL OF POISONOUS PLANTS 



Fig. 392. Large-flowered 

 white Jessamine {Jasminum 

 grandiflorum). A native of 

 Japan but cultivated in 

 France as a source of per- 

 fume. (From Vesque's Traite 

 de Botanique.) 



lobed; stamens 2; filaments short; ovary 2-celled, with 2 ovules in each cavity; 

 fruit a 1-3 seeded berry. About 35 species, natives of the Old World. 



Ligustrum vulgarc, L. Privet 



A shrub with long and slender branches, firm leaves; smooth, lanceolate or 

 oblong, and short petioled ; panicles dense, minutely pubescent ; pedicels very 

 short; flowers white. 



Distribution. Commonly cultivated for ornamental purposes, but escaped 

 here and there from cultivation. 



Poisonous properties. The leaves and fruit of the plant are said to be 

 poisonous. Prof. Chesnut states that accidents have been occasioned to children 

 who have eaten the fruit or the leaves. The plant contains syringin and the bitter 

 glucosidal principle syringopicrin CggH^^Oj.. These also occur in the lilac. 

 Edwards and Power have also found an alkaloid in the leaves and bark of an 

 allied species, Ligustrum robustiiiii ; and it was discovered also to be in the seeds 

 of L. Ibota. 



Loc.\Ni.\cEAE. Nux Vomica Family. 



Herbs, shrubs, vines, or in a few tropical genera, trees; simple, opposite 

 leaves, stipules or small membranes; flowers perfect and regular in axillary or 



