144 OCCASIONALLY FATAL. 



petals with purple veins, and the seed capsule is globose- 

 oblong. The whole plant is covered with a thick mat of 

 clammy hairs, especially the leaves, branches and flowers. 



THE THORN APPLE Datura Stramonium L. 



Other Common Names: Jimson Weed, Jamestown 

 Weed, Stramonium, Devil's Apple, Mad Apple, Stinkwort. 



This plant is very poisonous in all its parts. There are 

 a few cases of animal poisoning from its young leaves, 

 but it is usually avoided. Children have repeatedly been 

 poisoned by eating the seeds, in many cases so severely as 

 to cause death. The plant contains atropin and hyoscya- 

 min as well as other drugs. The symptoms of poisoning 

 are : headache, nausea, vertigo, extreme thirst, dry, burn- 

 ing skin and general nervous confusion, with dilated 

 pupils, loss of sight and of voluntary motion, and some- 

 times mania, convulsions and death. 



The treatment is to empty the stomach by means of 

 stomach tube or emetics, wash it out with tannic acid, 

 strong tea, or an infusion of oak bark, and administer 

 stimulants. 



The plant grows on waste ground throughout the coun- 

 try. It is from two to five feet high with smooth stems 

 and sinuately lobed leaves with the lobes taper-pointed. 

 The large, white flowers two inches or more in length, 

 are tubular, with five lobes at the apex. The seeds are 

 contained in ovoid capsules one to one and a half inches 

 long, usually covered with spines, and splitting into four 

 parts when ripe. The whole plant has a pronounced sick- 

 ening odour. 



