44 



hollow stems. It has recently been shown that some of the anise seed 

 in both foreign and domestic markets is ignorantly adulterated with 

 hemlock seeds, but it is not known whether serious consequences have 

 resulted therefrom. 



Symptoms of poisoning.— The symptoms in man are such as are due to 

 a general and gradual weakening of muscular power. The power of 

 sight is often lost, but the mind usually remains clear until death 

 ensues, as it soon does from the gradual paralysis of the lungs. The 

 poisoning differs from that of the water hemlock (Gieuta maculata) 

 in the absence of convulsions. The professional treatment recom- 

 mended is the use of the stomach pump or emetics, tannin (tea, oak 

 bark), stimulants, warmth at extremities, artificial respiration, and the 

 subcutaneous injection of atropine. Many domestic animals have been 

 killed by eating the plant, the prominent symptoms described for cows 

 being loss of appetite, salivation, bloating, much bodily pain, loss of 

 muscular power, and rapid, feeble pulse. 



As this plant does not occur in great quantities anywhere in the 

 United States, it may best be annihilated by hand-pulling before 

 maturity. 



HEATH FAMILY (ERICACEAE). 



BROAD-LEAP LAUREL. 

 KaJmia latifolia L. 



Other names: Laurel (north of Md.); ivy (south of Md.); mountain 

 laurel; sheep laurel; poison laurel; wood laurel; small laurel; rose 

 laurel; high laurel; round-leaf laurel; American laurel; poison ivy; 

 ivy bush; mountain ivy; ivy wood; big ivy; big-leaved ivy; calico 

 bush; spoon wood; spoon hunt; kalmia; wicky. (Fig. 24.) 



Description and habitat. — A fine shrub, usually 4 to 8, but sometimes 

 30 to 40 feet high. It has thick, flat, and shining leaves, showy 

 clusters of peculiarly shaped, viscid, and mostly inodorous pink flowers, 

 which appear in May and June, and a globular, viscid, dry, and inedible 

 fruit. It grows abundantly on rocky hillsides, in cattle ranges, and on 

 mountain slopes up to 3,000 or 4,000 feet, from Connecticut to eastern 

 Ohio and along the Alleghanies to Georgia and Alabama; less abund- 

 antly in the New England and Southern States as far as Louisiana and 

 Arkansas. 



Poisonous constituent. — The active constituent, andromedotoxin (from 

 the name of a closely related genus, Andromeda), is found in all parts 

 of the plant with the exception of the wood. It is a peculiar crystal- 

 line substance, easily dissolved out of the plant by cold water or by 

 alcohol. It is extremely poisonous, more so even than strychnine. 



Victims. — Scores of cattle and sheep are poisoned annually by eating 

 the shrub. Access to it is generally obtained by breaking away from 

 inclosures, or through neglect or accident when cattle or sheep are 

 being driven past laurel thickets to upland pastures in early spring. 



