4 BULLETIN 125, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



Hunt found, as did Heyl and Raiford (1911), that the leaves and 

 flowering tops contain more of the alkaloid than the bulbs. By 

 performing an extensive series of experiments on animals with the 

 Zygadenus alkaloids, he found that their action was in all essential 

 particulars the same as that of veratrin. They were very irritat- 

 ing to the mucous membranes, as was the powdered plant itself; 

 they produced an intense burning sensation and a very acrid, 

 bitter taste in the mouth; when applied to the skin in alcoholic or 

 chloroform solution, they caused a burning, painful sensation, but 

 the spot later became anaesthetized; they had the typical veratrin 

 effect upon the muscles and, as kymograph experiments showed, 

 affected the respiration, blood pressure, and heart in the same way 

 as does veratrin. It was also shown that the death of animals 

 poisoned with Zygadenus was hastened by attempts to arouse them. 

 This was attributed to the rapid failure of the respiration, circulation, 

 and the muscular system. It was concluded that under laboratory 

 conditions (and probably under field conditions) an essential part of 

 the treatment should consist in allowing the animals to rest. 



Hunt also isolated the alkaloids from the urine of animals poisoned 

 with Zygadenus. He found that they were excreted with the urine 

 quite rapidly and demonstrated that under laboratory conditions it 

 was often possible to save the life of poisoned animals (rabbits, sheep, 

 etc.) by the administration of diuretic drugs (caffein, theobromin, 

 sodiosalicylate) . Atropin and strychnin seemed to hasten death. 



Solhnan, after satisfying himself that the toxic action of Zygadenus 

 is identical with that of veratrin, made a study of poisoning by the 

 latter. He found that a single dose often caused prolonged sickness 

 and that small, repeated doses caused no tolerance, but increased 

 the susceptibility, and suggested demulcents, such as linseed decoc- 

 tion, to counteract the corrosive action on the alimentary tract. 



It is evident from these chemical and pharmacological studies that 

 the poisonous properties of Zygadenus are essentially those of vera- 

 trin, the indications for treatment being the same in the two cases. 



DESCRIPTION OF ZYGADENUS. 



The genus name Zygadenus is used in this paper as defined in 

 Robinson and Fernald's revision of Gray's Manual and in Coulter and 

 Nelson's New Manual of Botany of the Central Rocky Mountains. 

 It includes the three genera, Zygadenus, Anticlea, and Toxicoscordion, 

 of Britton and Brown's Illustrated Flora. The plants are erect, peren- 

 nial, glabrous herbs, growing from a rootstock, or, as in the case of all 

 the western species, from a tunicated bulb, with a leafy stem. The 

 leaves are grasslike, long, narrow, and keeled. The flowers are green- 

 ish yellow or white, borne in a terminal raceme or panicle. This 



