especially in Peru, for the sake of its roots, which are there eaten as the tubers of the potato are in Europe. 
It is worthy of note that the Amaryllidee lose much of their fragrance when the flowers become double, which 
is precisely the reverse of the multiplication of the petals in Rosaceous plants. 
Great care ought to be taken by those unacquainted with botany in eating any plant which is not known 
to them. In many cases the scent, or the dingy appearance of the foliage in flowers, is sufficient to show 
the dangerous nature of the plant ; yet it is unwise to presume on the absence of any visible indications. 
The botanist indeed possesses infallible means of distinction, by which, under any circumstance of 
country or climate, he can detect the presence of poison by an examination of the structure of the vegetable. 
This knowledge is of incalculable value to the traveller in strange countries. 
There prevailed at one time a great mortality among the cattle in some parts of Lapland, for which 
their owners were quite unable to account. Linnaeus discovered that it was caused by the cattle having 
eaten of the water-hemlock ( Cicuta virosa ). 
Animals are, however, provided with an instinct which enables them in most cases to perceive what 
kinds of food are wholesome for their own species. If a horse be placed in a pasture where the most noxious 
plants are growing, he will reject them ; as is the case when he meets with the (Endnthe Phellandrium, 
which he will not touch. 
The various objects of nature are not placed before us that we may extend our hand to gather them, 
and without any thought or pains to receive from them all their advantages ; but to man are given intellec- 
tual powers to study, and bodily strength to labour for the extension of their value. All that is necessary 
to be known respecting our destiny for a future world, is revealed with great plainness by the Scriptures ; 
but for our comfort in this world we are required to exert the capacities with which we are endowed in order 
to make the requisite discoveries. We may remark, in favour of cultivation, that even the soils most friendly 
to vegetation, commonly become by it more productive as the nature of the product is rendered more 
valuable. In every important attainment each one of us should endeavour to leave the world better than 
we found it, that, even as regards others, we may not have lived in vain. 
It is a singular fact respecting plants containing poison, that some of their parts are not only free from 
an unwholesome quality, but are very nutritious. The potato, which when boiled is so valuable a vegetable, 
bears poison upon its branches. The leaves and flowers of the peach-tree contain a bitter and poisonous 
juice ; while its fruit is wholesome and delicious, and its gum is of a gentle and mucilaginous nature. 
Poisonous plants very generally present, either in their blossoms or leaves, a dingy uninviting appear- 
ance. The hemlqck has its stem spotted with brownish purple, and its foliage of a dull green. The flowers 
of plants whose nature is deleterious are very often of a dark purple colour ; but, as a proof that this dis- 
tinction is not invariable, we may mention the hellebore or Christmas-rose. Few who looked upon it would 
think that a flower whose appearance was so pure and lovely could contain a quality so pernicious ; for if it 
is taken in large quantities it produces giddiness, and even death ; yet the botanist upon a slight inspection 
would feel assured of its dangerous nature. 
There are around the centre of this flower a number of stamens or small threads. When blossoms 
have these numerous stamens inserted on the receptacle, we may conclude the plant to be of an unsafe na- 
ture. A familiar instance of this is the common buttercup ( Rununculus A’cris). The blossom of the apple- 
tree, of the plum, the peach, and other fruit-trees, have also a number of stamens, but these are seated on 
the calyx. If the leaves of the flower-cup and the white petals of the Christmas-rose be carefully pulled off 
one by one, you will find that the stamens remain behind. If the petals of the apple-blossom be thus used, 
the stamens will almost all come off with them ; and this circumstance determines whether or not flowers 
thus formed are poisonous. 
Two species of hellebore ( HelUborus viridis and Helleborus fcetidus) grow wild in woods. Their flowers, 
which are of a dull yellowish green, have a very unpleasant scent, and the latter species has its calyx edged 
with a dingy purple, its leaves remaining green through the winter. Altogether its appearance is such that 
you would probably guess it to be a poisonous plant. 
The Greek hellebore ( Helleborus officinalis ) was thought by the ancients to invigorate the powers of the 
mind ; and when they were about to engage in any undertaking which required a greater portion of mental 
energy than usual, they were accustomed to take a small dose of it. It derives its name from two Greek 
words which signify “ to injure ” and “ food.” 
The purple foxglove ( Digitalis Purpurea), perhaps the most beautiful ornament of our summer woods 
and hedges, is extremely deleterious in its nature ; and although when used in small quantities it is a valuable 
remedy for some diseases, yet in the hands of the unskilful it is replete with danger. Its purple bells are 
large, and their white and spotted interior very handsome, but its colour is rather of a suspicious character, 
and to those accustomed to notice plants would indicate probable danger. 
The monkshood ( Aconitum Napdllus), found wild in some parts of England, but so common in gardens 
as that you can scarcely walk in one during summer without meeting it, is a very noxious plant. It is cer- 
tainly the most gloomy, forbidding-looking flower in the whole parterre. You have perhaps often pulled off 
the purple hood or helmet of this flower to see the two long thread-like parts placed underneath, which 
children call the doves of Venus’s chariot. This plant contains so much poison as that its scent alone is 
very injurious, and it ought upon no account to be smelled to, or rubbed over any part of the face. Indeed, 
were its properties more generally known, we should not have it so often in gardens to which the children 
of careful parents have access. This flower is called also wolfsbane, because the hunters who chase the 
wolves upon the Alps dip their arrows in an extract procured from the plant, which ensures the death of the 
wounded animal. 
