CROWPOISON 



Chrosperma muscaetoxicum (Walter) Kuntze 



Crowpoison is found in sandy woods. It has a graceful and attrac- 

 tive spike of creamy white flowers and buds, the lower ones expanding 

 first. It grows from a bulb nearly an inch in diameter, and blooms from 

 May to July. The seeds are reddish brown, and this fact gives the motive 

 for the generic name, derived from the Greek and referring to the col- 

 ored seeds. The genus consists of a single species. This plant is remark- 

 able in that it contains one of the most toxic alkaloids known to science. 

 In the Southern Appalachians it often poisons cattle, which mistake 

 its leaves for grass in the spring. In this respect it recalls its relation- 

 ship to the western deathcamas, another member of the Bunchflower 

 Family. 



Crowpoison ranges from Florida to Tennessee and Arkansas and 

 northward to Virginia and Long Island. 



The specimen sketched grewnearWashington,District of Columbia. 



PLATE 147 



