446 MANUAL OF POISONOUS PLANTS 



Receptacle not hollow ; flowers generally perfect. 



Fruits cohering over each other, cone-like Magnoliaceae 



Fruits not cohering over each other, separate. 



Anthers not opening by uplifted valves, pistils usually more than 1. 



Sepals 3; petals 6; shrubs or trees Anonaceae 



Sepals 3-15; petals when present about as many. .Ranunculaceae 

 Anthers opening by uplifted valves except Podophyllum; pistil 



1 Berberidaceae 



Dioecious climbing vines ; simple leaves Menispermaceae 



Stamens 9-12 in several series; anthers opening by uplifted valves; petals ab- 

 sent Lauraceae 



RANUNCULACEAE. Crowfoot Family 



Herbs or a few woody plants with acrid juice; flowers polypetalous or apetal- 

 ous, regular or irregular ; calyx free, often colored like the corolla ; sepals 

 3-15; petals 3-15 or absent.stamens numerous; pistils few or numerous, distinct; 

 fruit a dry pod, berries or achene seed-like ; embryo minute, albumen present. 



A rather large, widely distributed family of plants many of which like 

 aconite, larkspur, and marsh marigold, are poisonous. Many, such as virgin's 

 bower (Clematis virginiana), C. Jackmanni and other species, are cultivated 

 for ornamental purposes ; the C. Jackmanni being especially desirable. The 

 columbines, like the European columbine (Aquilegia vulgaris), the Rocky Moun- 

 tain columbine (A. caerulea), and our eastern columbine A. canadensis), the 

 paeonies (Paeonia officinalis and P. Moutan), and the larkspurs (Delphinium) 

 are also cultivated for ornamental purposes, the most familiar of the latter 

 being the garden annual, Delphinium Consolida. Several perennial species of 

 Delphinium are also very showy. The seeds of stavesacre (D. Staphisagria), 

 native to southern Europe and the Levant, contain an alkaloid delphinin 

 C 20 H 35 NO G which is a powerful and acrid poison. 



Nigella is said to contain an alkaloid, nigellin; N. damascena contains the 

 alkaloid damascenin C n H,,NC>. In 1872, a German chemist found an alkaloid 



y 1 1 o 



in Isopyrum thalictr aides, the so-called isopyrin C 2g H 11 NO 3 . Thalictrum ma- 

 crocarpum contains the alkaloid thalictrin. Aquilegia is said to be free from 

 alkaloids. 



Glucosides have also been found in some of the members of this family, 

 as adonidin C J|1 H 40 O 9 in Adonis amnrensis. 



The European Adonis aestivalis and A. vernalis are recorded as poisonous 

 by Lehmann. The black cohosh (Cimicifuga racemosa) is also somewhat acrid. 



Many of the plants of the family contain anemonin C 10 H S O 4 and some are 

 used for medicinal purposes. 



Among these are aconite (Aconitum Napellus'), crocus, Pasque flower, pul- 

 satilla Anemone patens var. Wolfgangiana (Bess) Koch, and yellow puccoon 

 (Hydrastis canadensis). The black roots of black hellebore (Hclleborus niger) 

 are used in medicine, as a purgative, being poisonous in overdoses. The tuber- 

 ous roots of one of the crowfoots (Ranunculus Ficaria) resemble grains of wheat 

 and are sometimes boiled and eaten but they have a sharp acrid taste and are 

 known to produce blisters. The water crowfoot (R, aquatilis var. capillaceus) 

 is apparently harmless and is used as forage in England and on the Continent. 



