USEFUL WILD PLANTS 



tremblingly eaten them in moderation), they are said 

 on good authority to be poisonous when not ripe, 

 and color is not a sure guarantee that the state of 

 safety has been attained. 



So, too, the crimson berries of the familiar Poke- 

 weed, Pigeon-berry or Garget {Phytolacca decandra, 

 L.) should be kept out of the mouth, in spite of the 

 fact that birds devour them with greediness. The 

 whole plant is imbued with an active principle that 

 induces vomiting and purging, and in the root this 

 is so virulent that it has been known to cause death. 

 As mentioned in a previous chapter, when preparing 

 the young shoots as potherbs two waters should be 

 used, that in which they are first boiled being thro\\m 

 away. Another familiar weed, the Corn Cockle 

 (Agrostemma Gitliago, L.), a purple flowered, hairy 

 foreigner occurring in our grain fields, harbors 

 within its seeds a rank poison. Flour in which a 

 large quantity of these seeds has been ground may 

 produce fatal results. Cockle seeds, by the way, are 

 saponaceous and will create a lather if shaken up well 

 in water. 



On the Pacific slope, in the country of the Camas 

 described in Chapter II, is a plant of the Lily tribe 

 in general appearance resembling Camas but with a 

 bulb that is poisonous. It is realistically knowni as 



244 



