160 
LANGUAGE OF FLOWERS. 
with purple and lined with ivory ; and to which she 
has given an odour that attracts and intoxicates, 
but is so dangerous as to stupify those who inhale it 
even in the open air. The Thorn-apple of Peru is 
the most splendid variety of this species, each 
flower being often two feet in length ; and some¬ 
times there are one hundred and fifty open at once 
on the tree. 
It is a dangerous plant to be allowed to grow 
where there are children, as the beauty of its flow¬ 
ers and fruit is liable to tempt them to their destruc¬ 
tion ; since it possesses so poisonous a quality as to 
produce paralysis and even madness in those who 
have inadvertently eaten of it. As a medicine, its 
leaves have been recently recommended for cough 
and asthma, dried and mixed with ordinary or herb 
tobacco for smoking. 
