PLANTS. 385 



plant, but especially the bark, is an acrid poison, and so 

 penetrating, that smelling a flower will cause inflamma- 

 tion of the nostrils. The berries are very dangerous, if 

 eaten, very drastic and creating cramp of the stomach. 

 The same treatment recommended for other vegetable 

 poisons, milk, raw eggs, etc., is proper. 2J!. 



The Savin Tree (Juniperus sabina), a slender, ever- 

 green shrub, arboreous, sending out numerous horizontal 

 branches, growing from eight to twelve feet high. Root 

 woody, consisting of one strong, radical spike ; wood of 

 trunk red, fine-graiiied, and very hard. Leaves spicate, 

 resembling sharp-pointed needles dark green above, blue- 

 green below, angular, channeled on the mid-vein above, 

 heeled below; arranged in whorls of three to five to 

 eight seconds on the ends of the twigs, they give the 

 tree a beautiful appearance. Flowers very small, seated 

 in terminal aments ; the fertile in oblong catkins. Fruit 

 small, round, bluish-black berries, ripening the second 

 year. Grows wild, but often planted in ornamental 

 grounds for sake of its beauty. The whole shrub, but 

 especially the leaves, has a disagreeable aromatic odor 

 and an acrid spicy taste ; any portion eaten is poisonous, 

 producing inflammation of the bowels and other distress- 

 ing effects. Horses eat it eagerly, but if for any length 

 of time in excess, it is said, it operates as a poison on 

 the skin, and causes the hair to fall off. It is useful, 

 and often employed to be packed among furs or woolens, 

 to keep away the moths, h. 



The Thorn Apple Jamestown Weed (Datura stra- 

 monium), plate 30, fig. 6, branched, spreading ; leaves 

 large, smooth, with long, irregular teeth and sinuses ; 

 flowers bluish-white, solitary, campanulate ; fruit egg- 

 shaped, the size of a small apple, and covered with 

 17 



