POISONOUS QUALITY AS DEPENDING ON STAGE OF OKOWTH. 81 



inorely on account of the fact that stock are seldom killed by death 

 canias after it has blossomed it has been considered by some stockmen 

 as nonpoisonous after that period. As a matter of fact the seed and 

 bulb are alike poisonous, both before and after flowering. The seed 

 is seldom eaten and the Inilbs can not easily be pulled out of the 

 ground by stock while grazing after the rainy season in spring is 

 over. 



All druggists and physicians are aware that the chemical compound 

 by virtue of which a drug is of therapeutic value is almost invariably 

 more abundant in one part of the plant than in another. The same is 

 true with regard to poisonous principles, as is perhaps best illustrated 

 in the case of Montana plants by the lupines. As is shown in the dis- 

 cussion of these plants, the seed is b}' far the most poisonous part. 

 There is, also, a particular stage of the plant's growth at which the 

 drug prepared from it must be collected for use. According to the 

 instructions issued by large wholesale dealers in crude native drugs to 

 their collectors these periods are as follows: The roots of perennial 

 plants are gathered at any time between the maturity of the leaves or 

 Howers and the fresh vegetation of the next period of active growth. 

 The roots of biennial plants should be collected at anj^ time after the 

 first year's growth and before the}" send up their seed stalk the follow- 

 ing spring. Barks are gathered as soon as possible after the}' will 

 peel in the spring, flowers when they first open, and seeds as well 

 as leaves and herbs just before they mature. As a general rule all 

 drugs are most powerful when collected at the appropriate season 

 as outlined above. By observing these rules uniformity of strength, 

 a very essential requirement, is also secured and the drugs are more 

 easily cured and prepared in the most acceptable form for the market. 

 A good example of how a plant may. according to the stage of its 

 growth, be poisonous or nonpoisonous to stock is furnished in the case 

 of the common passion-flower vine in an article published by Mr. 

 Theodore A. Melter in the Bulletin of Pharmacy for May, 1899. It 

 has been ascertained that the drug gathered from this vine is most 

 potent when gathered at the flowering season. Five hundred pounds 

 of the plant which had been ignorantly collected three months later 

 was fed by Mr. Melter to a horse as a substitute for hay, with the 

 result that the animal thrived well and became fat. At another time, 

 however, his horse accidentally gained access to and ate about 30 pounds 

 of the same drug which had been gathered at the flowering season. 

 The horse was found in a stupid state the next day and it remained in 

 this condition, but with loss of flesh, for six weeks, when it died. 



In general the part of a plant which causes most cases of stock poi- 

 soning is the foliage. The period of its maturity is regarded by some 

 of the cultivators of medical plants as being the time at which its chlo- 

 rophyll content is most highly developed or when the leaves are most 

 intensely green. This is generally soon after the flowering tune la 



