VERATRUM VIRIDE 351 



grows with skunk cabbage, with which its root is some- 

 tunes mixed in commerce. Josselyn, 1672, first refers 

 to it. He with others considered it the European Ver- 

 atrum album. Following, Kalm, 1753, Cutler, 1785, 

 Schopf, 1787, Aiton, 1789, Barton, 1798, Bigelow, 1818, 

 Thacher, 1821, Rafinesque, 1830, and all subsequent 

 American botanists gave it attention, the earlier writers 

 considering it to be Veratrum album, to which it is 

 closely related. In 1742 the plant was introduced into 

 Europe, (Loudon), but Aiton, 1789, states that to Col- 

 linson in 1763 is due the honor. Credit for the name is 

 usually given Aiton, but is really due William Solander, 

 a pupil of Linnseus. 



Peter Kahri (350) states that Veratrum viride is very 

 common in marshy places, and frequently causes the 

 death of stock, which eat the young leaves in the spring; 

 also that the settlers employed a decoction of the root 

 to poison the seed-corn, to prevent birds from eating it; 

 also that the root was used as an insecticide. Maisch 

 considered the leaves innocuous. Frederick V. Coville 

 informs us that sheep in the West fatten on the leaves 

 and stems, and that stockmen call it Wild Indian Corn. 

 Corn steeped in decoction of the rhizome (Cutler) poi- 

 sons crows. Owing to its emetic qualities, the drug is 

 seldom fatal to man, but overdoses are distressingly 

 energetic, and although we have never known a fatal 

 case from its use, veratrum is classed with substances 

 to be used with care. With Professor A. J. Howe, 

 M. D., veratrum was a great favorite. The drug was 

 early known, (Thacher, Zollicoffer, Bigelow, etc.), but 

 as is true of many other valuable American remedial 

 agents, it has been much neglected. Its insecticide 

 .qualities and its emetic property led to its use by both 



