PINK FAMILY. 97 



The action of saponin is counteracted by extract of 

 Antidotes digitalis. Oils and demulcent drinks are also 



recommended. 



The plant is common in the winter wheat fields of 



Europe and North America, and in the spring wheat of 



a few districts. It is about the height of the 



wheat plants. Its stems and narrow, pointed 



and Seed 



leaves are greyish green, owing to a scatttered 



covering of fine, silky hairs. The rich, purple flowers, one 

 to two inches across, with the five green, pointed sepals 

 standing out beyond the petals, warrant the name Agros- 

 temma, or "crown of the field." 



The seeds are enclosed in a flask-shaped, one-celled 

 capsule with a central column to which they are attached. 

 When ripe the capsule opens at the top and the seeds 

 break loose from their fastenings. They are jet black 

 when ripe, from one-twelfth to one-eighth of an inch in 

 diameter, and somewhat flattened. They are character- 

 ized by rows of teeth which curve round from a notch at 

 the point of attachment. Fragments of the hulls aro 

 readily identified in ground feeds by these teeth. 



Cow COCKLE Saponaria Vaccaria L. 



Other Common Names: Cow Herb, China Cockle, 

 Spring Cockle. 



This plant is a close relative of Purple Cockle and was 

 suspected of producing similar effects. Its growing pre- 

 valence in western grain fields led Ches- 

 Si ilar nut and Wilcox to investigate the truth of 



to those of 



Purple Cockle these suspicions. Their experiments with 



rabbits corroborated the earlier statement 



that the plant contains a poisonous, saponin-like sub- 



