20 BUTTERCUP. 



stalks in the corn-field, during June, and known 

 as the Corn Crowfoot, which is eaten with 

 avidity by cattle, but which is a highly dan- 

 gerous plant for their food. Some sheep which 

 fed upon it, in meadows near Turin, were 

 killed by its poison ; and a French chemist 

 ascertained that three ounces of its juice proved 

 fatal to a dog in the course of four minutes 

 after swallowing it. It may be known by the 

 very large and prickly seed vessels which suc- 

 ceed the flower. There is another species, the 

 Celery -leaved Crowfoot, with stout juicy stems, 

 bright glossy leaves, and very small yellow 

 flowers, common at the sides of streams and 

 ditches. If this flower is laid on the skin, it 

 will quickly raise a blister ; nor is it even safe 

 to carry a handful of the plant to any distance, 

 as the hand is hkely to become much inflamed 

 in consequence. We have fifteen species of 

 wild Crowfoot. The old writers called them 

 King-cups, Gold-cups, Cuckoo-buds, and Mary- 

 buds. The juice of the bulbous Crowfoot, if 

 applied to the nostrils, causes sneezing. 



