34 



ammonia. If superpurgation occurs, opium should be administered by 

 a physician. In the case of two children, who were poisoned at Oak- 

 land, Cal., by eating a few seeds, ipecacuanha and Veratrum virids were 

 administered with good effect. In cases of skin poisoning a wash of an 

 alcoholic solution of sugar of lead (lead acetate) should be tried. 



SNOW ON THE MOUNTAIN. 

 Euphorbia marginata Pnrsh. 



Description and habitat. — An annual plant 2 to 4 feet high, differing 

 most conspicuously from the preceding species in its more hexuons and 

 less branching habit, and in having its upper leaves broadly margined 



with white. Its general aspect is 

 far more pleasing to the eye, and 

 on this account it is more fre- 

 quently gathered for decorative 

 purposes. This spurge is a na- 

 tive weed of the Great Plains 

 from Montana to Mexico, and is 

 spreading eastward rapidly to 

 Louisiana and through southern 

 Minnesota and Missouri to Wis- 

 consin, Illinois, and Indiana. It 

 is cultivated considerably for 

 ornament, especially in the North- 

 ern Atlantic States, where it has 

 frequently escaped from cultiva- 

 tion. It has recently been intro- 

 duced as a weed into Germany. 



Poisonous property. — The poison 

 of this plant reaches the stomach 

 so far as known only through the 

 eating of honey derived from its 

 flowers. Large quantities of fall 

 honey are annually made unsala- 

 ble in localities where the plant 

 grows in great abundance. The 

 honey is hot and disagreeable to 

 the taste, but does not appear to 

 be a very serious poison, its ef- 

 fects being confined mostly to vomiting and purging. The milky juice 

 when applied to the skin very often causes an itching inflammation, 

 accompanied by pimples and blisters which last for several days. The 

 general effect is much like that observed in rhus poisoning, for which it 

 is sometimes mistaken. This blistering action is, in fact, so decided 

 that a few stock raisers in Texas use the juice to brand cattle, it being 

 held by them to be superior to a red-hot iron for that purpose because 

 the scar heals more satisfactorily. 



FIG. 1G. — Snow on the mountain (Euphorbia mar- 

 ginata): a, whole plant, one-third natural size; 

 b, seed capsule, natural size. 



