CHAPTER VII 
PLANTS SUSPECTED OF BEING POISONOUS. 
A very large number of plants have at various times been suspected 
of possessing poisonous properties and causing harm to live stock. 
Of these it is quite probable that many are in practice entirely harmless, 
but some must be included as possibly deleterious, complaints having 
been made which vary in gravity from a slight irritation to causing 
death. 
Purging Flax (Linum catharticum L.). It is perhaps doubtful 
whether this plant is really poisonous unless taken in considerable 
quantity by animals as it is quite unlikely to be. It may, however, 
be included here, as it is stated to contain a glucoside which is purgative 
and which on fermentation yields prussic acid. 
Furze or Gorse (Ulex europ&us L.). In view of the fact that 
Gerrard isolated from the seeds of Gorse the alkaloid Ulexine, which is 
identical with Cytisine (p. 27) and that the alkaloid is also contained in 
less quantity in the bark of young shoots, this plant has been suspected 
of possessing toxic properties. Experiments (179) 1 with the alkaloid 
definitely showed it to be a nerve and muscle poison, 3 milligrammes 
having killed a chloroformed cat with convulsions in three minutes, 
though the animal could be kept alive as long as artificial respiration 
was kept up. As, however, Gorse has long been used very widely and 
in considerable quantities as a fodder the percentage content of the 
alkaloid must in general be exceedingly small, and no harmful effects 
need be feared from the consumption of the cut and bruised plant. 
Possibly the seeds might prove injurious if eaten in quantity. 
Melilot (Melilotus sp.) may at times cause injury. Ewart (82) writes : 
" All the species contain Cumarin, a volatile odoriferous principle, which in 
excess produces a disinclination to locomotion, paralysis and ultimately 
fatal symptoms. No harm is to be apprehended if the amount present 
does not exceed 10 per cent, of the herbage." 
Silver Weed (Potentilla Anserina L.). This well-known and elegant 
little weed is scarcely likely to be eaten to any extent by farm stock, 
1 Reference to Bibliography. 
