300 NATURAL HISTORY. 



the Strychnos family, and altogether certain that the 

 operative element of the Poison- tree, swallowed even in 

 an unconsiderable quantity or received into the system 

 through a wound or abrasion of the skin, however slight, 

 proves deadly. Another description of Java informs us 

 of a deep ravine found there, called the Valley of Death, 

 in which no living thing has ever been known to exist, 

 not, however, because of a poisonous tree, but that, 

 through a number of fissured rock found there, supposed 

 to communicate with some subterranean volcanoes, so 

 great a quantity of carbonic acid gas escapes, that any 

 one entering with the sphere of this mephitic vapor be- 

 comes asphyxiate, and is soon suffocated. Every one 

 knows that the same danger attends the entering of a 

 cellar where wine is fermenting. These two accounts, 

 mixed up together, have most probably formed the foun- 

 dation of the marvelous story of the Upas tree. 



FORTY-THIRD FAMILY. ASCLEPIADACE^:. (Class 

 5, L.) Plants or shrubs with an acrid, milky, poison- 

 ous sap or juice. 



Swallow Wort (Cynanchum vincetoxicum). Stem 

 large, stout, and branching ; leaves heart-shaped ; flow- 

 ers white, standing in clusters ; grows everywhere on 

 barren hills ; height two or three feet. The root has a 

 strong, nauseating odor ; tastes sweetish at first, after- 

 wards sharp and bitter ; creates vomiting and distressing 

 sickness. Branches whitish and warty. 2. 



The Periwinkle (Vinca minor) is a perennial ever- 

 green plant, delighting to grow in the shade of woods, 

 etc. Leaves oblong, lanceolate, smooth; flowers blue, 

 single, and inodorous, have long footstalks. Also called 

 Running Box. 2. 



The Oleander (Nerium oleander) is an erect ever- 



