MYRTIFLORAE THYMELAEACEAE 



643 



sometimes used as a substitute for pepper, in some cases with fatal results. 

 Blyth says : "There are a few cases of poisoning on record, and they have been 

 mostly from the berries. Thus, Linne has recorded an instance in which a 

 little girl died after eating twelve berries. The symptoms observed in the 

 recorded cases have been burning in the mouth, gastro-enteritis, vomiting ( giddi- 

 ness, narcosis, and convulsions, ending in death. The lethal dose for a horse 

 is about 30 grms. of powdered bark; for a dog, the oesophagus being tied, 12 

 gms. ; but smaller doses of the fresh leaves may be deadly." 





Fig. 364. Mezereum (Daphne 

 Mesereum). An acrid poison. 

 (After Fitch.) 



Dirca, L. 



A small shrub with tough, fibrous bark; short-petioled leaves; flowers yel- 

 lowish, in peduncled fascicles of 2-4 scaly buds at the nodes of twigs of the 

 preceding season ; stamens 8, borne on the calyx, the alternate ones longer : 

 filaments very slender ; perianth bellshaped, or f unnelform ; disk obsolete ; ovary 

 nearly sessile; drupe red, oval, oblong. 2 species known, 1 in Eastern North 

 America, and 1 in California. 



Dirca pahtstris, L. Leather-wood. 



A shrub with yellowish green twigs; leaves obtuse; bud-scales 3 or 4, oval, 

 with brown hairs, deciduous; style longer than the stamens. 



Distribution. In woods and thickets, Eastern Canada to Minnesota, Central 

 Iowa to Missouri and Florida. 



Poisonous properties. The bark is acrid, like that of the Daphne ; all parts 

 of the plant having a nauseous, acrid taste. The principle, however, is unknown. 

 The fresh bark applied to the skin causes redness and vesication, the sores 

 thus produced being quite difficult to heal. 



ONAGRACEAE. Evening Primrose Family. 



Herbs or rarely shrubs, with alternate or opposite leaves, generally without 

 stipules, or stipules glandular ; calyx adnate to the 2-4-celled ovary ; petals 2-4 ; 

 stamens as many as the petals or twice as many ; ovules numerous. About 300 



