104 ENGLISH BOTANY. 



running down from the point of each tooth there is a raised longi- 

 tudinal fold which presents a sharp-keeled exterior. Corolla 3 to 4 

 inches long, white ; the tube cylindrical, slightly contracted towards 

 the mouth of the calyx, and then gradually expanding into the 

 limb, which has 5 plaits, one of which is continued into each of the 

 5 recurved teeth, which are acuminated into linear processes. Pruit 

 IJ to 2J inches long, with a gorget at the base, formed by the 

 persistent portion of the calyx-tube which becomes spreading- 

 reflexed, the surface clothed with spines J inch long or more: 

 these spines are herbaceous but stiff, tliough scarcely vulnerant. 

 Seeds very numerous, sub-reniform, flattened, dull greyish-black, 

 coarsely pitted. Whole plant sub-glabrous, generally with the 

 upper side of the branches, peduncles, and veins only hairy, but 

 sometimes the leaves are sparingly clothed with very short hairs all 

 over the surface. 



The var. 3 is usually a larger and stronger plant, with rounder 

 capsules and purple flowers ; of course, it does not deserve to be 

 included in the British flora ; and even var. a cannot be considered 

 as a perfectly naturalized plant, though it is of too frequent occur- 

 rence to be placed among the excluded species. 



Common Thorn-apple. 

 French, Stra/moine ct, Feuilles sinuees. German, Gemeine Stechapfel. 



"We appear to be indebted to our old friend Gerarde for the wide distribution of 

 this plant all over the British Isles. It was introduced by him from seed brought 

 from Constantinople by Lord Edward Zouch, whom Gerarde tells us, " of his 

 liberalitie did bestow them on me, and it is that Thorn-apple that I have dispersed 

 through this land, wherof at this present I have great use in surgery, as well in 

 burnings and scaldings," Its appeai'ance when in flower or fruit is so peculiar that it 

 cannot well be mistaken. It flowers neai'ly all the summer, and has a very foetid, 

 disagreeable odour when bruised. All parts of the plant are poisonous, but the seed 

 and fruit are considered the most noxious. Dr. Taylor tells us of a very remarkable 

 case given by Dr. Zechmeister, attributing to the vapour of the full-blown flowers the 

 symptoms of poisoning in a boy who was exposed to it for some time in a close room. 

 Dr. Taylor gives us in his Manual on Poisons many instances of poisoning from the 

 infusion of this plant. Accidents not unfrequently have occurred tlu-ough swallowing 

 it in mistake for other medicines. One instance he relates of a woman who took two 

 cupfuls in senna tea. She was seized with giddiness, fainted, became insensible ; 

 but on the contents of the stomach being removed by the stomach-pump, she 

 eventually recovered. The seeds have in several cases occasioned death. Sixteen 

 grains of the seeds, swallowed by a child of two years old, caused death. And 

 numerous other instances are related of the fatal or serious consequences of partaking 

 accidentally or incautiously of this poisonous plant. Its properties are well known in 

 India, where it grows abundantly, the thieves and assassins of that country not unfre- 

 quently administering it to their victims to produce insensibility. In America it is 

 called the " Devil's Apple," from its terrible effects. The effects of Stramonium on 

 the system are circumstantially related by Beverley, in his " History of Virginia." He 



