11 



Poisonous Herbage. 



The plants that lead in the toxic qualities of their herbage are 

 aconite, tobacco, veratrum, thornapples, tansy and the water hem- 

 locks, but the following are more or less poisonous: Crowfoots. 

 clematis, cherry, lobelias, hyoscyamus, atropa, hitter-sweet, bella- 

 donna, laun erbush and nasturtium. 



. from the above that there are underground parts of many 

 plants with toxic properties, at vera! berries unfit for food, while the 

 herbage and hark of some plants are poisonous. It follows, therefore, 

 that a general rule may he laid down, namely, all parts of all plants 

 not known to be harmless should be tasted with caution and never 

 eaten in any quantity. 



Poisonous Toadstools. 



The number of kinds of very poisonous toadstools is small, and in 

 r Peck's recent work, from which Figures 6 and 7 are taken, 

 is reduced to three, all of which are members of the genus Amanita. 

 namely. 1 .1. pholioidea | L. ) and .1. verna Bull. 



These are not usually poisonous to the touch, but may prove fatal 

 when used as food, and demand our consideration. 



The .1 I., is. as its Latin name suggests, the fly 



amanita or By toadstool, so called because the juice of the plant is 

 fatal t" some insects, and hi - sen used to destroy the common 



house fly W 



This is our most common, cosmopolitan, poisonous toadstool, grow- 

 ing in woodland, especially under evergreen tree-, and sometimes in 

 the open pastures, being found at nearly all weeks in the growing- 

 season after the first of June. This is the one which caused 

 the death of < ount de Vecchi. at Washington, I ». C, in November, 



account of the large size and highly-colored yellow, orange or 

 scarlet cap. decked with white, the species is easily recogni/ed. The 

 white or yellowish-white stalk, four t'> six inches Long, somewhat 

 woolly or scaly be! - - from a gradually-widening, bulbous, 



i-»-. and an incomplete vulva or cup. The cap i- three t<> 

 eieht inch*-- rhfa white gills, dightly tinged with yellow, and 



upon the upper Bide, where the white fj 

 ments of the vulva adh- ly t<> th< -kin -if the pil< 



♦ A:.-. ■] rq rtd the ft il -.'4. 



