460 MANUAL OF POISONOUS PLANTS 



Stebler and Schroter state that Ranunculus acris produces diarrhoea, abor- 

 tion, and loss of flesh, and when eaten in large quantities, death ensues in a few 

 hours. Dr. Johnson in his Mannual of Medical Botany of North America, 

 says: 



The ranunculi are too acrid to render their internal use either desirable or safe. 

 Most of them are avoided by domestic animals; one may often see R. acris, for example, 

 growing luxuriantly in pastures where almost every blade of grass is cropped close. Their 

 acrid properties have, however, led to their employment externally as rubefacients or 

 vesicants in cases where other and perhaps better agents were not at hand, or were for 

 any reason contra-indicated. As is well known, cases of idiosyncrasy occur in which 

 cantharides are inadmissible on account of their effect upon the urinary organs. In some 

 such cases ranurculus has been used with good effect. One of the faults of this agent is its 

 extreme violence. The fresh plant, bruised and applied to the skin, may vesicate in an 

 hour or hour and a half, and may possibly produce an ulcer not easy to heal. It is, 

 therefore, far less safe as a rubefacient than mustard, and, as a rule, much less desirable 

 as a vesicant than cantharides. It has been employed to some extent in European countries 

 as an external application in chronic rheumatism, neuralgia, etc., but never sufficiently to 

 have obtained a place in the pharmacopoeias. In this country it is used still less, and is 

 little more than mentioned in works on materia medica. An interesting observation re- 

 garding the possible effect of R. acris on pregnant cows was reported to the author by his 

 brother, Mr. F. M. Johnson. In a herd of cows pastured for years in succession in an 

 old field thickly beset with this weed, abortion was frequent and troublesome. As soon, 

 however, as this pasture was broken up and the herd moved to another part of the farm 

 in which the plant did not grow, abortion disappeared. Now although, as stated above, 

 domestic animals avoid this plant, yet when feeding where it is very abundant, they must 

 occasionally swallow it accidentally; and though there is no positive proof that the abor- 

 tions were due to the plant in question, the facts aa stated are interesting and significant. 

 It is at least possible that ranunculus exerts an influence upon the reproductive organs 

 like that which is claimed by some for pulsatilla. 



Leaves, flowers, and stems of the Ranunculi have a peppery and pungent 

 taste, when eaten, reminding one of mustard. According to Lloyd, boiling water 

 dissipates the acrid principle. 



Many other species of the genus Ranunculus such as R. Flammula, and R. 

 arvensis are acrid and poisonous, causing the formation of blisters. 



Delphinium Tourn 



Perennial or annual herbs of erect, branching habit, with racemose or 

 paniculate showy flowers ; leaves palmately lobed or divided ; sepals 5, irregular, 

 petal-like, the upper one prolonged into a spur; petals 2-4, irregular, the upper 

 one spurred, and enclosed in the spur of the calyx ; stamens numerous ; pistils 

 1-5, forming follicles in fruit, many seeded. Species about 60 in the North 

 temperate regions. 



Several species like Stavesacre (D. Staphisagria} are used in medicine, 

 and many are poisonous to live stock. Several species like the field larkspur (D. 

 Consolida), the rocket larkspur (D. Ajacis}, the great flowered larkspur (D. 

 grandiflorum) and blue larkspur (D. elatum}, are ornamental. 



Delphinium Penardi Huth. Prairie Larkspur 



A perennial pubescent or hairy herb, more or less glandular above, from 

 3-5 feet high ; leaves 3-5-parted, the divisions 2 or 3 times cleft, the lobes linear ; 

 flowers in racemes; white, slightly tinged with blue; spur horizontal, straight 

 or slightly curved upward; follicle pubescent, many seeded. This is closely 

 related to D. azwreum of more southern distribution, with light blue flowers and 

 downy follicles. 



