CHAPTER VII 



PLANTS SUSPECTED OF BEING POISONOUS. 



A very large number of plants have at various times been suspected 

 of possessing poisonous properties and causing harm to live stock. 

 Of these it is quite probable that many are in practice entirely harmless, 

 but some must be included as possibly deleterious, complaints having 

 been made which vary in gravity from a slight irritation to causing 

 death. 



Purging Flax {Linum catharticum L.). It is perhaps doubtful 

 whether this plant is really poisonous unless taken in considerable 

 quantity by animals — as it is quite unlikely to be. It may, however, 

 be included here, as it is stated to contain a glucoside which is purgative 

 and which on fermentation yields prussic acid. 



Furze or Gorse {Ulex europceus L.). In view of the fact that 

 Gerrard isolated from the seeds of Gorse the alkaloid Ulexine, which is 

 identical with Cytisine (p. 27) and that the alkaloid is also contained in 

 less quantity in the bark of young shoots, this plant has been suspected 

 of possessing toxic properties. Experiments (179)^ with the alkaloid 

 definitely showed it to be a nerve and muscle poison, 3 milligrammes 

 having killed a chloroformed cat with convulsions in three minutes, 

 though the animal could be kept alive as long as artificial respiration 

 was kept up. As, however, Gorse has long been used very widely and 

 in considerable quantities as a fodder the percentage content of the 

 alkaloid must in general be exceedingly small, and no harmful effects 

 need be feared from the consumption of the cut and bruised plant. 

 Possibly the seeds might prove injurious if eaten in quantity. 



Melilot (Melilotus sp.) may at times cause injury. Ewart (82) writes : 

 " All the species contain Cumarin, a volatile odoriferous principle, which in 

 excess produces a disinclination to locomotion, paralysis and ultimately 

 fatal symptoms. No harm is to be apprehended if the amount present 

 does not exceed 10 per cent, of the herbage." 



Silver Weed {Potentilla Anserina L.). This well-known and elegant 

 little weed is scarcely likely to be eaten to any extent by farm stock, 

 ^ Reference to Bibliography. 



