LEGUMINOSAE 



537 





Fig. 294. Wild Senna (Cassia Mary- 

 landica). 1. Flower. 2. Pods. A plant 

 growing in the Eastern Atlantic States as 

 far south as North Carolina. Laxative 

 like the Common Partridge pea. (Selby, 

 Ohio Agrl. Exp. Stat.) 



inserted on the petals ; ovary rudimentary, or none in the staminate flowers, 

 sessile and many-ovuled in the pistillate; pod oblong, thick, large, and coriace- 

 ous. 



Gymnocladus dioica (L.) Koch. Kentucky Coffee-tree 



A large tree with rough bark; leaves large and ample, 2-3 feet long; 7-15 

 leaflets, ovate or acute ; glabrous or pubescent on the veins beneath ; racemes 

 many-flowered; flowers slender-pedicelled ; seeds hard, y^ inch across, imbedded 

 in a sweet, but disagreeable, and somewhat mucilaginous, material. 



Distribution. From Western New York to Pennsylvania, Eastern Nebraska, 

 and Arkansas. 



Poisonous properties. Cases of poisoning are not uncommon. The alkaloid 

 cytisin C 1:1 H 14 N 2 O, a crystalline, rather bitter, and caustic substance which 

 causes dilation of the pupil, is reported to have been found, according to Ches- 

 nut, in the leaves and soft pulp of the fruit of the coffee bean. The pulp 

 has long been used, when mixed with milk, to poison flies. In speaking of the 

 symptoms and treatment, Prof Chesnut says : 



Few accidental cases of poisoning arise, but the pulp, in one instance, caused severe illness 

 in a woman who ate a small quantity, mistaking it for that of the honey locust (Gleditsia tria- 

 canthos), which is frequently eaten by children. The symptoms were not fully noted at 

 the time, but are described from memory as conspicuously narcotic. The effect began 

 within five minutes and lasted several hours. The treatment should probably be the same 

 as that for laburnum, viz., emetics, stimulants, injections of coffee, and an alternately hot 

 and cold douche to the head and chest. 



