PRINCIPALLY SOLAN ACEOUS AND COMPOSITOUS PLANTS IOI 



Poisons. The thorn apple contains two poisonous alkaloids hyos- 

 cyamin (CnH^sOsN) and atropin (CnH^sOsN) together with scopolamin, 

 or hyoscin (Ci7H 2 iO4N). The principal substance is hyoscyamin. The 

 true alkaloids together occur to the extent of 0.48 to 3.33 per cent, in the 

 leaves, 0.43 per cent, hi the flowers and in the root o.i per cent. Daturin 

 was formerly believed to be in the plant, but it has been proved to be a 

 mixture of hyoscyamin and of atropir-. 



Bittersweet (Solanum dulcamara). The bittersweet is a climbing 

 plant producing purple flowers with rotate corollas followed by a bright-red, 

 ellipsoidal berry. There is considerable divergence of opinion about the 

 poisonous properties of this plant, some denying that the fruit is poison- 

 ous. Dr. S. C. Schmucker thinks that the berry fruit is harmless provided 

 the seeds are removed before it is eaten. Perhaps this explains the dis- 

 crepancies in the statements about the use of the berry as food. However, 

 the plant contains the toxic alkaloid found in other species of Solanum and 

 Gillam reports a case of poisoning in sheep and the writer has heard of the 

 poisoning of children on Long Island by eating the fruit. The symptoms 

 as recorded by Gillam in the case of the sheep mentioned above were 

 small, intermittent pulse, temperature io4F, quickened respiration, 

 staggering gait, dilation of pupils and green bowel discharges. The 

 symptoms seem to be the same in the poisoning of cattle. 



Garden Nightshade (Solanum nigrum). The black nightshade is a 

 smooth annual growing one to two feet high with ovate leaves having 

 wavy margins. There are drooping clusters of small, white flowers and 

 black, globose, juicy berries, which ripen from July to October. It is 

 a common introduced weed in rich, shaded grounds and fields east of 

 South Dakota and Arkansas and in damp places westward to the Pacific 

 Ocean. 



The amount of poison in this plant varies with the conditions of growth. 

 The plants with the musky odor are the most poisonous. Children have 

 been poisoned by eating the berries, but occasionally owing probably to a 

 variation in the poisonous content of the berries children may eat them 

 with no other ill effect than a pain in the stomach. Chestnut and Wilcox 

 record cases of poisoning in calves, sheep, goats and pigs. The character- 

 istics symptoms are about the same in animals and in man. They are 

 stupefaction, staggering, loss of speech, feeling and consciousness, cramps, 

 i and occasionally convulsions. The pupils show dilation. Paralysis is 

 usually the cause of death. 



