188 FIRST STEPS IN GENERAL KNOWLEDGE. 



"Then I suppose they are all bitter plants," 

 said Eobert ; " for mamma says the gentians are 

 ^ very bitter, and that one of them* 



is very much used by druggists 

 on that account." 



"Most of their relatives are 

 also powerfully astringent and 

 bitter; but one tribe is chiefly 

 noted for producing hard black 

 timber called EBONY, others for 

 having intensely poisonous seeds, 

 as those produced by a tribe of 

 trees and shrubs, chiefly tropical, 

 called DOGBANES on account of 

 their poisonous qualities. To this 

 latter tribe belongs our pretty little 

 PERiwiNKLE,t which cheers us 

 when there are few other blossoms. 

 Neighbour to these also stands the 

 HOLLY tree,J which forms the only 

 species of its tribe native in Britain. 



" Among the dangerous plants of this Gentian 

 alliance, the most fatal perhaps is the notorious 

 Indian tree, Strychnos Nux Vomica, which bears a 



* Gentiana lutea. f Vinca. J Hex aquifolium. 



LEAST GENTIAN. 



(Exacumfdiforme.') 



