196 MEDICINAL AND POISONOUS PLANTS 



The common pokeweed (Fig. 181) the young shoots of 

 which are often cooked and eaten like asparagus, is very 

 dangerous as regards its root and fruit, and even the herbage 

 may prove poisonous unless thoroughly boiled and the water 

 changed. Death has resulted from eating the root by mis- 

 take for horseradish, parsnip, and artichoke. Children have 

 died from eating the fruit, the seeds of which are especially 



Fig. 181, II. — Pokeweed. .4, flower. B, same, cut vertically. C, floral 

 diagram. D, fruit. E, seed, entire. F, same, cut vertically. G, root. 

 (Baillon.) 



poisonous. Household remedies prepared from the plant 

 are widely used, but the cases of poisoning from overdoses 

 of it ignorantly taken show it to be an especially dangerous 

 medicine. The monkshood (Fig. 178) common in gardens 

 is another plant the roots of which have been mistaken for 

 horseradish, with fatal results. 



The hark of various trees and their roots is often chewed 

 by young people, and often serious and sometimes fatal con- 

 sequences have resulted from mistaking poisonous for harm- 

 less kinds. The locust (Fig. 182) and elder (Fig. 183) have 

 proved especially dangerous in this respect. 



