PRIMULALES PRIMULACEAE 



675 



Distribution. Low grounds from Rhode Island to Florida, Tennessee and 

 Arkansas. 



Poisonous properties. All three species are poisonous. The leaves of the 

 fetter-bush contain a narcotic poison, the andromedotoxin C 31 H 51 O 10 , and have 

 been known to kill sheep. Sheep have also been poisoned by the mountain 

 fetter-bush. The stagger-bush received its name because of the intoxicating 

 effect of its leaves on sheep and cattle. 



PRIMULALES 



Herbs or shrubs; corolla mostly present, gamopetalous ; stamens borne on 

 the corolla as many as its lobes or twice as many or more. The family Plum- 

 baginaceae contains Statice, growing mostly in saline soil along the coast. It is 

 used as an astringent, particularly in diarrhoea. The baycurn (Statice brasilien- 

 sis) is one of the most powerful astringents, and is used locally as a gargle. 



Fig. 386. Stagger-bush (Lyonia mari- 

 ana), showing flowering branch, one-third 

 natural size. It contains a narcotic poison. 

 (Chesnut, U. S. Dept. Agr.) 



PRIMULACEAE. Primrose Family 



Herbs with simple leaves and regular flowers; calyx 5-parted; stamens as 

 many as the lobes of the gamopetalous corolla and borne upon it ; ovary 1-celled, 

 bearing several or many seeds; calyx free from the ovary or partly adherent 

 A small order with about 28 genera, and 350 species, of wide distribution in 

 the northern hemisphere, many of them arctic. 



