POISONOUS PLANTS l6l 



themselves, are not directly poisonous unless con- 

 sumed in such large quantities that the taking of 

 them could not be regarded as accidental. Prob- 

 ably the greatest amount of suffering comes to the 

 novice in field lore from the first of the groups. 

 The second class is fatal to open-mouthed children 

 whose chief test of anything is by taste, and also 

 to the "stranger within our gates," who is constantly 

 eating unknown roots, berries, or mushrooms from 

 a fancied resemblance to some edible species of his 

 own country. The Taste Nots are also espe- 

 cially dangerous to the cattle -raiser of the Great 

 Plains, who, in the poisonous plants constantly 

 found in grazing lands, has presented to him many 

 knotty problems. 



THE TRIBE OF "TOUCH NOT" 



We associate the word Sumac with rocky hill- 

 sides covered by abruptly branching shrubs varying in 

 height from dwarf bushes to small trees, that wear 

 in Summer either shiny or velvety compound green 

 leaves of many leaflets, and thick pyramids of yel- 

 lowish green flowers, held erect at the ends of 

 branches. In Autumn berry and leaf rival each 

 other in an intensity of crimson color. Yet three 



