POISONOUS PLANTS IN THE NEIGHBORHOOD OF TORONTO. 



206 



Tlie fresh juice of this plaut is powerfully initont, producing 

 violent itching, redness, and great tumefaction of the affected 

 parts, particularly the face and those portions of the body svhere 

 the skin is most delicate. 



Thi< swelling is fullowed by vessications, heat, pain, and symp- 

 tomatic fever, which continues for two, three, or four days, — the 

 symptoms then subside, the blistered parts being covered with a 

 crust. 



These effects usually make their appearance in four or five 

 hours, and though very distressing, are rarely fatal. 



_ The treatment required is strictly antiphlogiotic — viz., rest, low 

 diet, aperients, with cold applications, such as the sugar of lead 

 wash, (fee. 



It is, however, only in certain constitutions, that these phe- 

 nomena are produced, for in the majoritj', I believe, it exerts no 

 influence whatever; the leaves having been rubbed, chewed, and 

 swallowed without injury. 



The poisonous property resides in a yellowish milky juice, 

 which exudes from the wounded extremities of the plant, and 

 when applied to linen, forms an indelible black stain, which 

 neither washing nor chemical agents will remove. (Here the 

 lecturer illustrated the effects by reference to several cases.) 



3rd. Rhus Vernix.— Poison Sumach. This plant belongs to 

 the same family, and produces, when applied to the skin" the 

 same symptoms as those which I have just described. 



It is even said that, in susceptible constitutions, the near ap 

 proach to this tree is sufficient to produce its effects. 



4th and 5th. Cicut;i Maculata — American Hemlock. Oieuta 

 Bulbifera — Bulbiferous Cinta, 



6th. OJthusa C\napium — Fools Parsley. 



These three plants nearly resemble one another; they belono- 

 to the Class Pentandria, Order Digynia, and the Nat. Family 

 Umbellata>, and are to be found m wet meadows, ditches and 

 ponds. 



The i-oot of the Cicuta Maculata is composed of a number of 

 large oblong, fleshy tubers, diveiging from the base of the stem, 

 and frequently being found of the size and length of a finger. 

 The root is perennial, and has a strong, ]3enetrating smell and 

 taste. In various parts of the bark it contains distinct cells or 

 cavities, which are filled with a yellowish resinous juice. 



The j-.lant is from 3 to 6 feet high. Its stem is smooth, 

 branched at top, hollow, jointed, striated, and commonly of a 

 purple colour, except when the plant grows in the shade, in 

 which case it is green. The leaves ai'e compound, the leaflets 

 oblong, or cumulate, sinuate. The flowei-s grow in umbels, are 

 white, consisting of 5 petals, which are obovate, with inflected 

 points. 



These plants, like their congenei-s of Europe, the Conium 

 Macnlatum and Cicuta Virosa, are violent poisons, and they all 

 produce nearly the same train of symptoms— viz., \ertigo, ob- 

 scurity of vision, pain in the head, vacillating walk, dryness of 

 the throat, ardent thirst, vomiting of f,nvenisTi matter, irregular 

 respiration, coldness of the extremities l^-lliaigv or drlinum,''c|'ji- 

 lepsy, especially in children, which frequently terminates in death. 



The Cicuta Virosa of Europe is stated bv Dr. Churchill to be 

 by far the most poisonous plant of Great " Britain ; and Doctor 

 Bigelow, (of Boston,) in .speaking of the Cicuta Maculata, say.s, 

 'This IS i)robably the most dangerous of all our poisonous vege- 

 tables and various instances of .speedy death ha\-e taken place in 

 children who have unwarily eaten the root' 



For particulai-8 see Vol. L, American Medical Botany. 



[1853 



7th, 8th, 9th (k 10th. Euphorbia Helios?opia — Sun Spurge. 



" Polygonifolia — Knot-grass Spurge. 



" Maculata — Spotted Spurge. 



" Hypericifoiia — Oval-lea\ed Spurge. 



The nnmerous species of Euphorbia which are found in \aiious 



parts of the world, are all eminently acrid, and belong to the class 



Dodecandria, Order Trigynia, and Natural Family E^uphorbia. 



The species above enumerated are amongst our commonest 

 weeds in cultivated grounds, road sides, and on the sand at the 

 Island. In their action they are powerfully irritant, and all the 

 effects on the body ai-e subordinate to that action. 



The milky juice which exudes when any part of the plant is 

 bi-oken, jjvoduces, in children, when applied to the skin, an erup- 

 tion of vesicles, containing at first transparent lymph, which after- 

 wards becon:es opaque, and ultimately forms a dry crust or scab. 



I have often been sent for to see children who had been play- 

 ing with this common weed, and whose anxious mothera im- 

 agined were labouring under chicken pock; and so neariv do the 

 two states appear, that I have been in doubt for a time whether 

 to ascribe it to the poison or the disease. 



In any of the cases which I have seen, there has not been any 

 symptomatic fevei-, nor has the eruption appeared on anv part of 

 the body usually covered by clothes — but on the hands and arms, 

 face and neck, or legs. 



I am not aware of any ill effects having followed the handling 

 of these native plants ; but the East and West Indian, and Afi> 

 can varieties produce violent inflammation, and even ulceration of 

 the skin, or any part of the body with which it comes in contact. 



11th. Arum Triphyllum Dragon Root or Indian Turnip. 



This singular and elegant plant is a native of our swamps and 

 wet woods. 



The root is round and flattened, its upper part tunicated hke 

 an onion, its lower and larger portion tuberous and fleshy, gi\ing 

 oft' numerous long white radicals in a circle from its upper°edo-e. 

 On the under side it is covered with a dark, loose, and wrinkled 

 skin. 



The leaves are on long footstalks, and composed of three oval 

 acuminate leaflets. 



The flower is a large, ovate, acuminate spathe, convoluted into 

 a tube at the bottom, but flattened and bent over at the top like 

 a hood. Its colour is various; in some it is green, in others 

 dark purple, or almost black, mostly variegated, with pale green- 

 ish stripes on a dark ground. 



It belongs to the class Mona^cia, Order Polyaudria. Every 

 part of the arum, and especially the root, is violently acrid, and 

 almost caustic ; ajiplied to the tongue, or to any secreting surface, 

 it produces an eft'ect like Cayenne Pepper, biit far more power- 

 ful, so much so, as to leave a permanent soreness of many lioui-s' 

 continuance. 



This acrimony is of a ^■olatile nature, and disappears upon 

 boiling or drying. 



It consists of an inflammable substance, volatile at low tem- 

 peratures, and not combining with water or alcohol. 



12th. Crdla Palustris.. Northern Calla. 



This handsome aquatic plant belongs to the same class and 

 order as the foregoing, and is found in the swamps near the 

 Huinber. 



The ro;)t is as largo a-; the fingor, jointed, and creeping. The 

 leaves are snioafh, entire, he.irt-shaped, with an involute point. 



The flower or spnthe, oval, sprealing, recurved, clasping at the 

 base, and ending in a cylindrical jioiut. 



