594 MANUAL OF POISONOUS PLANTS 



fid; styles 3; capsule 3-lobed, separating into three 2-valved carpels. A small 

 genus of 50 species. 



Tragia urens L. Common Nettle or Tragia 



A dull green, pilose plant with pilose or hirsute hairs; erect, branched 

 stems; leaves obovate, or ovate-linear; short, petioled, pistillate flowers, several 

 at the base of the racemes, with a 5-6 lobed calyx; capsule short-pedicelled. 



Distribution. From Virginia to Florida and Texas. 



Tragia nepetaefolia Cav. Tragia or Nettle. 



A somewhat hispid, erect, or slightly twining plant, bearing stinging 

 hairs ; leaves ovate, or triangular-lanceolate ; base cordate or truncate ; short 

 petioled ; racemes many-flowered ; pistillate flowers with a 5-iobed calyx ; seeds 

 chestnut brown. 



Distribution. From Kansas to New Mexico. 



Poisonous properties. The hairs have the same stinging property as those 

 of the common nettle. 



3. Ricinus (Tourn.) L. Castor Oil Bean 



A tall, stout herb or tree in tropics ; glabrous and glaucus ; large, alternate, 

 peltate leaves ; flowers in large, panicled clusters ; the fertile above, the staminate 

 below ; calyx 5-parted ; stamens numerous ; styles 3, united at the base, each 

 2 parted, redjcapsule subglobose, or oval, separating into 3, 2-valved carpels; 

 cotyledons large; endosperm fleshy and oily. A single species naturalized in 

 warm countries, probably native to Asia. 



Ricinus communis L. Castor Oil Plant 



A tall, smooth, branching herb with palmately-lobed leaves ; seeds oblong, 

 shining, variegated with white. 



Distribution. Widely cultivated as an ornamental plant, and an escape from 

 cultivation from New Jersey to Texas. 



Poisonous properties. The seeds furnish the well known castor oil, which 

 is a mild and safe purgative. It contains ricinolein, or ricinoleic acid glyccnd, 

 C s H g (C lg H 34 O 3 ) 3 ; an acrid principle; also palmitin, stearin, and myristin. 

 'The purgative principle found in it is unknown. Castor oil -is not poisonous, 

 but the pulp contains an acrid, albuminous substance, ricin C 8 H g N O 9 . Dr. 

 Winslow, in speaking of the poisonous character, says, the seeds "contain 50 

 percent of oil, and an acrid, poisonous substance. Three seeds have caused 

 death in man,, and they are ten times more purgative than the oil." A few seeds 

 eaten entire by a child might produce serious symptoms. According to Ches- 

 nut, the seed eaten accidentally by horses has caused death. They are used also 

 to poison sheep, according to the same authority. The oil cake is said not to be 

 poisonous to poultry and cattle. A case is known of a young lady whose eyes 

 became inflamed when in contact with a mere trace of the material in the 

 laboratory. The toxin is very poisonous, but animals may be rendered immune, 

 and the seeds then fed to them. Behring has produced an anti-toxic serum 

 against the ricin or toxin of the castor oil bean. 



