236 



POISONING. 



PKUNACEiE (plum FAMILY). 



*Prunus caroliniana. — The laurel cherry, or mock orange, is native 

 in the south-eastern quarter of the United States, and is there often 

 cultivated for hedges. The half-withered leaves and the seeds yield 

 prussic acid, and are i3oisonous when eaten hy anmials. 



* Prunus serotina. — The wild black cherry is a valuable forest tree 

 which ranges throughout the eastern half of the United States. Cattle 



are killed by eating the partially 

 withered leaves from branches 

 throw^n carelessly within their 

 reach or ignorantly offered as 

 food. The leaves of various other 

 wild and cultivated cherries are 

 probably poisonous to cattle in 

 Vk\\/ ]i\yXK^^\i/i\>fil \c~Z^ the same way. 



VICIACE^ (pea family). 



Aragallus lambertii. — The 



Lambert, or stemless loco weed, 

 is, next to the following species, 

 the best-known representative of 

 a large group of closely related 

 plants which are native to the 

 western half of the United States, 

 and are known as loco weeds on 

 account of the peculiar excited 

 condition which they induce 

 in animals that eat of their 

 leaves. Horses and cattle are both 

 affected, but the chief damage is 

 done to horses. After being per- 

 mitted to graze on any of these 

 plants the animal acquires an un- 

 natural appetite for them, and soon refuses all other kinds of food. It 

 rapidly becomes unmanageable, shows brain symptoms, and finally dies 

 from lack of proper nourishment. 



Astragalus mollissimus. — This, the woolly loco weed, is perhaps the 

 best laiown of all the loco weeds. It is the species most abundant in 

 Colorado, where from 1881 to 1885 nearly $200,000 was paid out in 

 bounties in an attempt to exterminate it. The plant is still abundant 

 in that State, and reports of the damage done by it continue frequent. 



Fig. 87. — Black cherry {Prunus serotina), 

 one-third natural size. 



