HARD WICKE* S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



in 



DioscorEjE. — The yam-tribe has only one repre- 

 sentative in England, the black bryony, Tamils 

 communis. Like many others of its tribe, our species 

 has powerful acrid properties, which render it danger- 

 ous. Death, in its most painful form, is the result of 

 an over-dose of the medicine prepared from its roots 

 by quacks and others (Professor Johnson). 



LlLIACE^E. — (Scilla maritima). A squill of the 

 Mediterranean region, and sometimes cultivated in 

 gardens, has a large bulb, from which is prepared a 

 yellowish-white powder — scillitin, which is a virulent 

 narcotic-acrid poison. Even in small doses it often 

 causes torpor, coma, sometimes death. Cats, rats, 

 and mice are particularly sensitive to its effect. The 

 bulbs of our common bluebell or wild hyacinth, 

 S. nutans, is also very acrid, and probably has a 

 deleterious effect similar to, but by far less powerful 

 than, that of the Mediterranean species. 



Colchicum autumnale. The whole plant of our 

 meadow-saffron contains the alkaloid colchicine, and 

 its seeds sabadillic acid, and these render the plant 

 toxic to a high degree. Numerous cases of death 

 through eating its bulbs or drinking solutions of its 

 juice are known, and at least one case is recorded of 

 a man, who, having swallowed some of the seeds, 

 was soon attacked with violent pain in the throat 

 and vomiting, and death rapidly ensued. Here may 

 be mentioned (Veratrut?i album), which grows in 

 many places on the continent, and {Schcejiocaulon 

 officinale) of Mexico. The root of the one and the 

 seeds of the other contain both veratrine and saba- 

 dillic acid, which combine to make the respective 

 parts of these plants virulently poisonous. 



The Aroide^e are represented in Britain by the 

 curious cuckoo-pint or wake-robin, Arum maculatum, 

 a rather common plant, six to ten inches high. The 

 stalk, leaves, and fruit, are intensely acrid, and if 

 they are eaten, the tongue and throat become so 

 swollen, that death, preceded by convulsions, has 

 often ensued. The corm also possesses these proper- 

 ties, and if it is crushed and rubbed on the skin it 

 will produce a burning sensation, and even raise 

 blisters. Like in the case of the cassava, heat will 

 dispel the poisonous properties of the root of the 

 arum, and by soaking these in water, then baking 

 and reducing them to powder, a very wholesome 

 starch is produced, known as Portland sago. Our 

 little wake-robin gives no idea of the size attained by 

 some aroids in the tropics. Bates thus speaks of 

 (Caladium arborescens) as found on an island in the 

 River Amazons ; — " The woody stems of the plants 

 near the bottom were eight to ten inches in diameter, 

 and the trees were twelve to fifteen feet high ; all 

 growing together in such a manner that there was 

 just room for a man to walk freely between them. 

 There was a canoe in-shore, with a man and a woman : 

 the man, who was hooting with all his might, told 

 us in passing that his son was lost in the ' aningal ' 

 (arum grove). He had strayed whilst walking 



ashore, and the father had now been an hour wait- 

 ing for him in vain." Whilst F. W. Burbidge tells 

 us that {Amoiphopkallus campanulatus), which he saw 

 growing near Singapore, "is of Titanic dimensions, 

 producing a lurid spathe, nearly two feet in circum- 

 ference, and exhaling the most fetid and repulsive of 

 odours." Another exotic member of this group, 

 from the West Indies, grows to a height of five to 

 six feet, and its juice is so extremely acrid, that when 

 touched by the tongue it occasions excruciating pain, 

 accompanied by an intense inflammation of the 

 tongue which prevents speech. Hence it is called 

 dumb-cane. 



Gramine^e.' — -The grass tribe gives us but one 

 deleterious species, and this is the darnel, Lolium 

 temulenlum. The flower ground from its seed is 

 grey, has an unpleasant smell, and when boiled in 

 water it causes a strong effervescence, and produces a 

 stupefying odour. When kneaded with water it 

 makes a bad dough, which does not rise properly. 

 The bread baked from it is black, and has a bitter, 

 unpleasant taste. The darnel is a narcotic-acrid 

 poison, and its effect generally resembles that of in- 

 toxication by alcohol. " The first intoxicating effect 

 is usually succeeded by dizziness and loss of sight, 

 often followed by delirium. In some cases paralysis 

 and gangrene of the limbs have followed the con- 

 tinued use of bread containing darnel " (Professor 

 Johnson). And one case is on record of a man who- 

 was killed by persisting to eat bread made from 

 flour containing one part of darnel to five of wheat. 



We have now passed in review, besides a few 

 foreign species, the most important poisonous plants 

 of our endemic Phanerogamic Flora. But we have 

 many others which possess more or less acrid pro- 

 perties, or possibly contain other poisons, but in such 

 small quantity that they have not proved dangerous 

 to man. Amongst these we may mention the wood- 

 sorrel, Oxalis acetosella; wall -pepper or biting stone- 

 crop, Solum acre; sundew, Drosera rotimdifolia ; 

 elder, Sambucus nigra ; leopard's-bane, Doronicum 

 pardalianches ; acrid lobelia, L. urens ; hound's- 

 tongue, Cynoglossum officinale ; yellow toad-flax, Li- 

 naria vulgaris; box, Buxus sempervirens ; sorrel, 

 Rumex acetosa ; foetid iris, I. fcetidissima ; flag, 

 /. pseudacorus ; herb Paris, P. qttadrifolia, etc. 



No list of poisonous plants would, however, be at 

 all complete that did not, at least, mention those 

 remarkable cryptogams, the Fungi — mushrooms of 

 toadstools — for whilst many species are highly nutri- 

 tious, many more are virulent poisons. Their action 

 is generally acrid or narcotic, but sometimes their 

 poison is said to resemble arsenic in its effects, and in 

 one case the symptoms were like those of the Asiatic 

 cholera. Mr. Worthington G. Smith, one of our 

 leading fungologists and an enthusiastic fungus-eater, 

 tells us he invariably tastes every toadstool new to 

 him, and has notes to this effect on all the species he 

 has selected: "In some species the effect is very 



