146 NATURAL HISTORY. 



of Arum curvatum grows only at high elevations ; and so far as It 

 is known, on the Himalayas, Nepal, Naini-Tal and Kumaon; its 

 lamina is pedatisect, leaflets 10-13, sessile, linear-lanceolate, 4-6 inch- 

 by |-| inch approximate, accuminate, entire. 



A. helleborifolium is a common plant in theKonkan, first described 

 by the late Dr. Stocks, of the Bombay Medical Service, as well as 

 on the Himalaya mountains, Nepal, and Sikkim discovered by Lady 

 Dalhousie, Wallich and others. I have found it also at Khandalla and 

 Matheran, where it is known to the natives as sap khanda. Its 

 lamina is pedate, 6-12 inch diameter and orbicular in outline: leaflets 

 13-23, 4-8 inch by 2-3^ inch acute, accuminate or caudate at the pit, 

 bright green; central distant and petioled, lateral becoming gradual- 

 ly smaller, shortly petioled or almost sessile. 



In my book (Useful Plants of the Bombay Presidency, " Bombay 

 Gazetteer," Vol. XXV. chap. Famine Plants) I have stated the 

 following: — " Almost all the species belonging to the order Aroidem 

 are more or less acrid and poisonous ; some, like Lagenandra toxicaria, 

 Vatsunab of the Marathas, Typhonium tribolatum, Surei Kanda of 

 the Teiingas, &c, are deadly poisons. They contain an acrid 

 principle which appears to be destroyed by the application of heat 

 or by mere drying of the aroids. During the late famine in Madras 

 and Southern Maratha country, hundreds of people were seen to 

 live upon tuberous roots and leaves of aroids known to be poisonous. 

 It is believed that the washing, boiling and stewing process these 

 herbs were subjected to prior to being eaten destroyed their delete- 

 rious principle, and thus the tubers, &c, became innocuous or rather 

 wholesome food! The cultivation is also held to modify the poison 

 both in the case of aroids as in that of cucumbers. The Soorun 

 (Amorphophalus campanulatns) which is widely cultivated for the 

 sake of its large root held to be a very nutritious vegetable and 

 extensively consumed by all classes of people of this country, also 

 contains a principle, slightly acrid; this is removed by steeping the 

 sliced tuber in water and by boiling. Nevertheless, not long ago a 

 paper was read at one of the meetings of the Grant College Medical 

 Society in which a case of poisoning marked by severe inflammation 

 of the fauces and throat was described." There is in North Ame- 

 rica a species of Ariscema named A. atrorubens, of which Dr. Lindley 

 says: — "It is violently acrid and almost caustic; the rhizome when 

 fresh is too powerful to render its internal exhibition safe. The 

 acrid principle is extremely volatile, and easily driven off by heat 



