444 



MANUAL OF POISONOUS PLANTS 



Distribution. A weed in waste places, lawns and fields, very troublesome in 

 lawns. Naturalized from Europe. Extends from New England and Canada 

 across the continent. 



Poisonous properties. The seeds of common chickweed are used as food 

 for cage-birds and are also readily eaten by chickens, but, according to Mr. Wrn. 

 Carruthers, they cause disorder to the digestive system when eaten by lambs in 

 large quantities. 



Fig. 220. Chickweed (.Stellaria media). Seeds said to be 

 injurious. (Charlotte M. King.) 



RANALES 



Herbs, shrubs or trees; calyx usually of separate sepals; corolla usually 

 present and of separate petals; ovary or ovaries superior, free from the calyx; 

 carpels 1-many; stamens mostly hypogynous and more numerous than the sepals. 

 Contains the families Nymphaeaceae, Cerate phyllaceae, Ranunculaceae, Bcrber- 

 idaceae, Menispermaceae, Magnoliaceae, Calycanthaceae, Anonaceae, Myristica- 

 ceae, and Lauraceae. The Nymphaeaceae are aquatic perennial herbs. The 

 rhizome of water chinquapin (Nelumbo lutea) of the Mississippi Valley and 

 introduced into Massachusetts by the Indians, was used for food. The sacred 

 bean or lily (AT. nucifera) cultivated for ornamental purposes produces an edible 

 seed and rhizome rich in starch. The pods of wokas {Nymphaea polysepala) are 



