98 Plants suspected of being Poisonous [ch. vn 



Molinia caerulea, Moench. A short account by Pott shows that 

 when forming the principal part of moorland pasture grasses, and hence 

 extensively eaten, this grass causes brittleness of the bones of stock, 

 and in sheep chlorosis and wool eating. It also induces hfematuria, 

 but if free from parasitic fungi {e.g. Claviceps microcephala) and not 

 covered with microscopic, sharp crystals, is quite harmless if only eaten 

 as a secondary or incidental fodder. This grass seems to be very poor 

 in lime (Immendorf, 1898), and Schulze and Castoro found the internodes 

 of the stem to contain a considerable quantity of a pentosan (Xylan). 

 It is poor in nutritive constituents. The harm done is due perhaps in 

 part to this fact, and in part to more or less accidental or occasional 

 constituents (as 0-046 per cent, of lead oxide in a case of the var. altissima 

 near some lead works). Plants said to be occasionally similarly harmful 

 are J uncus sp., Nepeta Glechoma, and Hieracium Pilosella. 



