THE POISONOUS PLANTS OF BOMBAY. 29 



first, but if smelt long they become less agreeable, and are narcotic. 

 Whether the odour of this flower or that of the several species or 

 varieties of the Datura genus be considered sweet or otherwise, frag- 

 rant or offensive, depends entirely on individual capacity to appreciate 

 the differences or even the degrees of scents. Mr. J. Cb. Sawer, 

 F.L.S., very wisely remarks, that " odours are differently appreciated 

 by different people, and what pleases one person may have a reverse 

 effect on another ; thus the strong odour of Tagetes jiatula (French 

 marigold) and Tagetes erecta is not unpleasant to some, while others 

 consider it very objectionable.'^ (Odorographia ; Introduction, p. 

 svi, 1892, London.) The same remark may be applied to the Datura 

 plants. 



Apart from the fact that the Datura plants are rank weeds, grow- 

 ing amidst hedges, fields and dunghills, where no human hand has 

 sown them, often prevailing where they are not wanted, it is unques- 

 tionable, that the Thorn-apple is artistically speaking, a plant of great 

 beauty, and quite a garden-ornament. Dr. Christison of Edinburgh 

 remarks in his work on Poisons (1845), that the Thorn-apple in his 

 day had become quite an ornament of Edinburgh Gardens. Firmin- 

 ger of Calcutta, on the other hand, is quite of a different opinion, 

 although he is an able writer on Gardening. He would destroy the 

 Thorn-apple plants after their flowers cease to bloom. For, he says, 

 " they take up much room and look unsightly." Evidently Firminger 

 has not the artistic eye or talent of Buskin, or even of Kerner. The 

 latter observes, that in the Datura plant the various forms, and the 

 distribution of the green leaves, young and old, on the surface of the 

 stem is very characteristic, Tteir position and form afford much 

 room for observation. The unequal size of adjoining leaves on the 

 same branch or stem is quite an artistic phenomenon. Looking down 

 upon a horizontally projecting branch of the Datura plant, the larger 

 and smaller leaves will be found arranged in quite a peculiar and 

 striking manner. The smaller leaves are seen in the gaps between 

 the larger ones. This mosaic-like fitting-together of larger and 

 smaller leaves appears to be combined with the want of symmetry of 

 the leaf-base most marked in the old long-stalked leaf.* It requires 

 an artistic eye to appreciate these observations. It is not always that 



=f See Kemer's Nat, Hist, of Plaots, Oliver's English Version, Vol. I, p. 422, 1894- 



