ii] Ranunculaceae 



11 



bourhood, it is used by the peasantry as fodder. They collect it in 

 boats and give it to their cows and horses, allowing the former about 

 twenty to thirty pounds a day. One man is said to have kept five 

 cows and a horse, with little other food but what they could pick up on 

 the heath, using no hay but when the river was frozen. Hogs eat it 

 and will live upon it alone until put up to fatten." (Johnson and 

 Sowerby — Useful Plants of Great Britain.) 



R. sceleratus L., or Celery-leaved Buttercup, is probably the most 

 toxic species, and it is stated that in man a single flower may cause 

 poisonous symptoms resembling those due to Anemone and Colchicum. 

 It is considered especially dangerous to cattle, and has caused many 

 losses : among its French names are Mort aux Vaches, and Herbe sar- 

 donique. Poor people have been known to eat the young shoots when 

 boiled, heat dispelHng the poison. 



R. Flammula L., the Lesser Spearwort, has repeatedly proved fatal 

 to horses and cattle. 



R. bulbosus L., the Bulbous Buttercup, is somewhat variable in 

 toxicity, and is least dangerous after the flowers have dropped their 

 corolla, and the bulb-like rootstock is most harmful in autumn and 

 winter. The flowers are the most dangerous part. 



R. Ficaria L., Lesser Celandine, varies in toxicity with locality and 

 season, being most harmful at the flowering period. It is stated that 

 wood-pigeons eat the roots with avidity, and that the young shoots 

 have been eaten as a salad in Germany, as they are not toxic. An 

 English veterinary surgeon (Flower) recorded that three heifers were 

 poisoned by it {Vide Cornevin). 



R. acris L., Acrid Buttercup or Tall Crowfoot, is a frequent cause of 

 poisoning in cattle, and Cornevin says it is perhaps the species which 

 causes the most accidents. 



Toxic Principle. The buttercups contain an acrid and bitter juice, 

 the chemical properties and composition of which are not well known, 

 but it is believed that the substance is identical with the Anemonin of 

 the Anemone sp. (q.v.). Beckurts isolated Anemonin and Anetnonic 

 acid from R. acer. Pott, however, states that the poisonous species 

 contain the two alkaloids Aconitine and Delphinine. 



Symptoms. The buttercups are acrid, burning and narcotic, causing 

 irritation of the mucous membrane, with inflammation of the intestinal 

 tract. 



Cornevin shows that R. sceleratus induces gastro-enteritis, colic, 

 diarrhoea with excretion of black foul-smelling faeces, vomiting when 



