476 



MANUAL OF POISONOUS PLANTS 



Distribution. In rich soil, North Carolina to Georgia, Alabama and Missis- 

 sippi, cultivated in Missouri, north to Central Iowa. 



Poisonous properties. This plant contains several alkaloids among them 

 calycanthin. Chesnut says : 



The large oily seeds of the calycanthus, or sweet-scented shrub are strongly reputed to 

 be poisonous to cattle in Tennessee. 



ANONACEAE. Papaw or Custard Apple Family 



Trees or shrubs, generally aromatic ; leaves entire, alternate, stipules absent ; 

 flowers with calyx of 3 sepals and a corolla of 6 petals in 2 rows; hypogynous; 

 anthers adnate, filaments very short; pistils many, separate, or cohering in a 

 mass, fleshy or pulpy in fruit; seeds large with a hard seed-coat, small embryo 

 and copious endosperm. About 550 species, many in the tropics. 



Asimina Adans. North American Papaw 



Shrubs or small trees with solitary flowers from the axils of the leaves 

 of the preceding year ; sepals ovate, petals 6, imbricated in the bud ; pistils few, 

 ripening into 1 ; large and oblong, pulpy, several seeded fruits ; seeds horizontal, 

 flat. A small genus of about 7 species, natives of eastern North America and of 

 Asia. 



A. triloba Dunal. American Papaw 



Shrubs or small trees with thin, obovate-lanceolate leaves, petals dull purple. 

 Distribution. Along streams from Ontario and New York to McGregor, 

 Iowa, Nebraska and Texas. 



I'ig. 247. Common Papaw (Asimina triloba). Common in woods of the South. (Char- 

 lotte M. King). 



