104 ENGLISH BOTANY. 
running down from the point of each tooth there is a raised longi- 
tudinal fold which presents a sharp-keeled exterior. Corolla 3 to 4 
inches long, white ; the tube cylindrical, slightly contracted towards 
the mouth of the calyx, and then gradually expanding into the 
limb, which has 5 plaits, one of which is continued into eacli of the 
f> recurved teeth, which are acuminated into linear processes. Fruit 
1} to 2\ inches long, with a gorget at the base, formed by the 
persistent portion of the calyx-tube which becomes spreading- 
reflexed, the surface clothed with spines J inch long or more : 
these spines are herbaceous but stiiT, though scarcely vulnerant. 
Seeds very numerous, sub-reniform, flattened, dull greyish-black, 
coarsely pitted. Whole plant sub-glabrous, generally with the 
upper side of the branches, peduncles, and veins only hairy, but 
sometimes the leaves are sparingly clothed with very short hairs all 
over the surface. 
The var. 3 is usually a larger and stronger plant, with rounder 
capsules and purple flowers ; of course, it does not deserve to be 
included in the British flora ; and even var. a cannot be considered 
as a perfectly naturalized plant, though it is of too frequent occur- 
rence to be placed among the excluded species. 
Common Thorn-apple. 
French, Stramo'me a Feuilles sinuees. German, Gemelae Stecluipfel. 
We appear to l>e indebted to our old friend Gerarde for the wide distribution of 
tbis plant all over the British Isles. It was introduced by him from seed brought 
from Constantinople by Lord Edward Zoucb, whom Gerarde tells us, " of bis 
liberalitie did bestow them on me, and it is that Thorn-apple that I have dispersed 
through this land, wherof at this present I have great use in surgery, as well in 
burnings and scaldings." Its appearance when in flower or fruit is so peculiar that it 
cannot well be mistaken. It flowers nearly all the summer, and has a very foetid, 
disagreeable odour when bruised. All parts of the plant are poisonous, but the seed 
and fruit are considered the most noxious. Dr. Taylor tells us of a very remarkable 
case given by Dr. Zechmeister, attributing to the vapour of the full-blown flowers the 
symptoms of poisoning in a boy who was exposed to it for some time in a close room. 
Dr. Taylor gives us in his Manual on Poisons many instances of poisoning from the 
infusion of this plant. Accidents not unfrequently have occurred through swallowing 
it in mistake for other medicines. One instance he relates of a woman who took two 
cupfuls in senna tea. She was seized with giddiness, fainted, became insensible; 
but on the contents of the stomach being removed by the stomach-pump, she 
eventually recovered. The seeds have in several cases occasioned death. Sixteen 
grains of the seeds, swallowed by a child of two yeai's old, caused death. And 
numerous other instances are related of the fatal or serious consequences of partaking 
accidentally or incautiously of this poisonous plant. Its properties are well kuown in 
India, where it grows abundantly, the thieves and assassins of that country not unfre- 
quently administering it to their victims to produce insensibility. In America it is 
called the "Devil's Apple," from its terrible effects. The effects of Stramonium on 
the system are circumstantially related by Beverley, in bis " History of Virginia." He 
