THE POTATO TRIBE. 191 



dangerous qualities ; and you will here again ob- 

 serve that some of our cultivated vegetables are 

 obtained from very suspicious orders. The group 

 I speak of contains the NIGHTSHADE tribe, and the 

 OLIVE, CONVOLVULUS, and DODDER tribes, the last 

 being, as you know, curious parasites on various 

 plants, such as that which infests the furze and 

 heath on our downs." 



"Nightshades are dreadfully poisonous," said 

 Mary; "and there is a very sad tale in my 

 Poetical Companion, of a poor little brother and 

 sister who died from eating the berries of the 

 deadly nightshade." 



"The Nightshade tribe contains also the hen- 

 bane, which is a very poisonous weed at the time 

 the seeds are forming, though comparatively harm- 

 less at other times ; also the pretty petunias, the 

 tobacco plant, and the common potato." 



There was a general exclamation of surprise 

 among the children, when they heard that the 

 potato belonged to this poisonous tribe. 



" And yet," said Robert, " I remember mamma 

 told me not to chew the berries when I was 

 gathering the pretty blossom of the potato." 



" The leaves and berries of the potato are nar- 



