136 REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONER OF AGRICULTURE. 



branches are usually 3 to 4 inches in diameter, frequently having 

 thirty or forty slender rays or peduncles, each one of which at its ex- 

 tremity is again divided into as many short spreading rays, each ot 

 which bears a minute white flower, or when ripe a pair of seeds some- 

 what like caraway. The main stem of the plant is smooth, thick, some- 

 what spotted or streaked with purple, and hollow. It grows from 3 to 

 6 feet high, with numerous branches. The leaves are compound and 

 composed of three to live divisions, each of which is again divided into 

 throe or five leaflets. The base of each compound leaf is enlarged and 

 dilated so as partly to surround the stem. The leaflets are 1 to 3 inches 

 long, smooth, oblong or lanceolate, coarsely toothed, and pointed. The 

 root of this plaut is a dangerous poison. It is composed of a number 

 of oblong fleshy portions diverging from the base of the stem, fre- 

 quently as long and as thick as a man's finger. It has a strong pene- 

 trating smell and taste. It is often mistaken by children for wild par- 

 snip, or is supposed by them to be eatable, and every year the papers 

 contain accounts of fatal poisoning from the use of the root. It is 

 highly desirable that information may be diffused respecting this and 

 other poisonous and deleterious plants, so that such accidents may be 

 avoided. The root has been to some extent employed by medical men. 

 Its effects are much the same as those of the European hemlock (no 

 way related to the tree called hemlock in the United States), but it is 

 now rarely used. The poison hemlock of Europe (Gonium maculatum) 

 is the plant whose juice was given to criminals in ancient Greece, and 

 from which Socrates came to his death. There are several dther plants 

 of this order ( Umbelliferce) resembling the one described, some with and 

 some without poisonous properties. It is best to avoid the use of all 

 such as are not well known. Plate XIX. 



Polygala Senega — Seneca Snalce root. 



A small perennial herb, growing in woods and rich rocky ground 

 throughout the eastern portions of the continent. It produces a clump 

 of stems from a thick, hard, and knotty root-stock, the stems growing 

 from 8 to 16 inches high, very leafy and un branched and terminated by 

 a raceme about 1 inch long of small pinkish or white flowers. The 

 leaves are lanceolate, smooth, entire, and scattered on the stem. The 

 plant belongs to the order Polygalacew, sometimes called milkworts, of 

 which there is a large number of species both in this country and the 

 Old World. The flowers in the raceme are small, sessile, and crowded, 

 irregular in structure, and approaching those of the order Leguminosw. 

 The parts of the flower are very small, and require the use of a mag- 

 nifier to make them plainly observable. The calyx consists of five 

 unequal segments or sepals, three petals more or less united together, 

 six or eight stamens united by their filaments into a flatfish band, and 

 a two-celled ovary, which ripens into a small two-seeded pod. The 

 thick knotty rhizoma and the roots springing from it are the parts em- 

 ployed in medicine. This root is said to have received the name of 

 Snake-root from its employment by the Seneca Indians as an antidote 

 to snake bites. Dr. Tennent, of Virginia, a hundred and fifty years ago 

 investigated the properties of the plant and believed it to be useful in 

 the treatment of pleurisy and pneumonia. The use of the root then 

 spread in this country and into Europe, and was generally believed to 

 have valuable properties. It is an ingredient in the medicine known 

 as hive sirup, much used in the treatment of croup among children. 

 Plate XX. 



