174 POISONOUS PLANTS 



it means almost certain death by heart paralysis. 

 Cattle are also affected by it, and it is unwise 

 either to handle the plants or to risk inhaling their 

 fumes while fresh or the spore -dust when dry. I 

 was made unpleasantly aware of the toxic qualities 

 of Fly Amanita while taking the accompanying 

 photograph at close range on a damp day, and thus 

 spending half an hour or so in company of a double 

 score of the fungi. 



But even this rank Amanita is less likely to 

 cause trouble than its smaller, paler kinsman of the 

 distinctly cupped stem the Death Cup. This has 

 a smooth, satiny top, which may be either white, 

 spotted, or tinted yellow; it also has white gills 

 and a white stem. As a whole, at a casual glance, 

 it does not look unlike a large Meadow Mushroom, 

 and for this reason is doubly dangerous. It also 

 sometimes strays from its proper wood haunts, to 

 lawns and meadow edges. Remember the fatal cup 

 at the root, and the white gills. Remember also 

 that a mere fragment is enough to kill a man, and 

 beware of it, for there is no rank taste nor odor 

 to give warning, and the poison does not begin to 

 work until eight or nine hours after it has been 

 eaten. Then all care is unavailing. 



Two plants of the Carrot tribe follow in their 



