144 CHAPTER XIX. 



A strange error is abroad to the effect that the 

 leaf of the Oleander is not net-veined. 



Another dangerous plant is the Coriaria, a shrub 

 with small entire opposite leaves. You will find it 

 plentifully by almost any of the little footpaths which 

 lead up from the valley to the hills. The leaves 

 contain a narcotic poison which causes an animal to 

 stagger and fall. Hence the native name " ubbriaco," 

 that is, " intoxicated." What makes the Coriaria all 

 the more dangerous is that animals seem to like it. 

 I have not observed whether goats are able to eat 

 this plant without bad effect. I have seen a goat 

 eating Euphorbia, which most animals reject. Some 

 thirty years ago I tried an experiment with a goat. 

 It was at Eastbourne. She was tethered, and seemed 

 hungry. I had been reading that Crucifers are 

 wholesome, and I wished to know whether the goat 

 would give the same verdict as the botany book. So 

 I gathered a quantity of different plants, and arranged 

 them in bundles according to their Natural Orders. 

 I then placed them in front of the quadruped, and 

 stood back to see what she would do. To my 

 satisfaction she selected the bunch of Crucifers. It 

 was possibly an accident : I dare say she would just 

 as soon have eaten some Coriaria. 



The Coriaria is the only genus in the order, and 

 no one knows to what this order is allied. This 

 straggling shrub is " sans aveu " : it is thoroughly 

 disreputable they ought to plant it by the Casino at 

 Monte Carlo there is no redeeming point that one 

 can find. It is neither useful nor yet ornamental, as 

 some rascals are ; it has not the perfume of the 

 Myrtle, nor the flower of the Cistus ; it gives no food 



