Poisonous Plants. 
59 
seriously injured. The principal symptoms are acute inflam- 
mation of the stomach and digestive system, but nervous 
symptoms — such as convulsions and foaming at the mouth — 
also occur. Cases of yew poisoning are dealt with at some 
length in the Journal of this Society. ^ 
Amaryllidacese. Prevailing qualities : narcotic, depressant. 
X. C .^ — Narcissus Pseudo-narcissus L. (Daffodil). A bulb- 
iferous plant, with long linear obtuse leaves. Flowei’stalk hollow, 
two edged, bearing near its summit a membranous sheath and a 
single yellow flower with a tube-like nectar notched and 
curled at the margin. March and April. Place of growth: 
woods and thickets. Perennial. 
Qualities: The whole plant possesses poisonous 
properties, somewhat like the following, but cases of poisoning 
are not so frequent, the plant being less common. 
Colchicaceae. Prevailing qualities : narcotic, depressant. 
X. D. — Golchicum autumnaJe L. (Meadow Saffron). A plant 
when in flower in appearance like the garden crocus. The flowers 
appear from August to October, after the broad dark green 
leaves have disappeared ; they are of a violet purplish colour 
and have a very long narrow tube. At the time of flowering 
the seed vessels remain underground, but appear above surface 
in spring, together with the leaves. Root: a bulb, from 6 in. 
to 12 in. deeply buried. Place of growth: meadows, 
rather local, but then in masses. Perennial. 
Qualities : The plant is poisonous in all its parts, and a 
frequent cause of injury to stock. It is said to cause premature 
calving. The common symptoms are violent purging, diffi- 
culty in passing water, which often contains blood. Collapse 
speedily sets in followed by death. 
Deleterious Plants. 
Under certain conditions nearly all the plants described in 
this report have caused fatal injury and death to stock ; some 
of them, especially those illustrated, are very dangerous, and the 
farmer should become well aquainted with these plants and 
eradicate them with the greatest diligence wherever a single 
plant is found to grow. 
The conditions under which stock is injured by poisonous 
plants are varied. Indeed it has often surprised me that cattle 
ever touch plants which possess a fetid and disagreeable odour. 
We have examples where the disagreeable odour occurs only in 
the mature plant, though the poison is as severe in the young 
* Journal R.A.S.E., 1892, page 698. 
’ The figures and letters in front of the names refer to the plate and 
illustration. 
