MONOCOTYLEDONS AS POISONOUS PLANTS 47 



in man and flesh-eating animals and very strongly in rabbits, but it does 

 not influence pigs, horned cattle or ducks. 



Nature of Poison. It appears from recent investigation that the 

 grains of darnel, which are 

 injurious, contain a poiso- 

 nous fungus (Endoconidium 

 temulentum) upon which 

 their poisonous effects prob- 

 ably depend. It is believed 

 that grains of darnel with- 

 out the fungus are not 

 poisonous. The darnel 

 fungus, according to Free- 

 man, lives in the outer 

 layers of the grain penetrat- 

 ing the aleurone layer and 

 invading the starchy end- 

 osperm. There exists in 

 the nucellus, at the base 

 of the scutellum of the 

 darnel embryo and at the 

 base and at the lower end 

 bf tfce inner groove a layer 

 of hyphae which lies 

 directly against the 

 embryo, constituting an 

 infective layer. When the 

 embryo pushes out during 

 germination, the hyphae 

 grow into the developing 

 seedling and keep pace 



with its growth and' can PlG - IS- Death camas (Zygadenus venenosus.) 



j . . (After Hall, Harvey M. and Gates, Harry S.: Stock 



be detected in the growing Poisoning Plants of California. Bull. 249, University 



point throughout the life of f Cali f rnia Agricultural Experiment Station, 1915, 



*V i P- 227.) 



the plant. 



Death Camas (Zygadenus venenosus). The Indians of the northwestern 

 United States were acquainted with the medicinal and poisonous proper- 

 ties of this plant and the earliest white explorers mention it in their 



