CHAPTEE XI 



A CAUTIONARY CHAPTER ON CERTAIN 

 POISONOUS PLANTS 



"Within the infant rind of this weak flower 

 Poison hath residence." 



THERE is an old saying about mushrooms to 

 the effect that the way to test their edibility is 

 to eat a few; if you survive, they are a harmless 

 kind; if you die, they are poisonous. The same 

 cynic rule applies to wild plants in general, though 

 with much greater chance for survival than is af- 

 forded by the fungus group, since the number of 

 poisonous flowering plants growing wild in the 

 United States is relatively small. Nevertheless 

 there are some of such common distribution that a 

 brief reference to a few of these that might deceive 

 the unwary seems desirable.^ 



Perhaps the plant responsible for most fatalities 



1 A useful monograph, adequately illustrated, entitled "Thirty 

 Poisonous Plants of the United States," by V. K. Chesnut, was 

 issued a number of years ago by the U. S. Dept. of Agriculture, 

 as Farmers' Bulletin Xo. 86. I believe it is now out of print, but 

 copies ma^ be found in public libraries, 



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