Pennsylvania School of Horticulture for Women - Wise Acres Yearbook (Ambler, PA)

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■poisonous plants D. W. S. The subject of poisons, their sources, methods of recognition, the effects produced, and the treatment prescribed, is one of the utmost importance to the physician and to the veterinarian. The interest in toxicology, the science of poisons, is shared by the botanist and the horticulturist, and rightly so, for the earliest known poisons were derived from plants. Later those of animal origin, such as snake venom, and those obtained from minerals as arsenic and mercury were studied. The early history of plant poisons is involved in myth, for it is said that Hecate, the Greek goddess of mystery and magic arts was the discoverer of poisonous herbs. The Egyptians were familiar with effects and uses of such plants as henbane, aconite and the poison hemlock. They also knew the very deadly prussic acid which they extracted from the leaves and the fruit of the peach and which they used in putting to death those who revealed religious secrets. The ancient Greeks and Romans likewise made a study of the poisonous plants and the products which they yielded. Pliny mentions that the Gauls dipped their arrows before going into battle in preparations of veratrum, the false hellebore, a plant found in our region which is used in medicine and which has been known to have produced fatal results when mistaken for other plants that resemble it. It was not uncommon during the early and middle ages to put condemned criminals to death by administering poisons. It is said that the deaths of Socrates, Demosthenes, Hannibal and Cleopatra were due to the effects of poisons. Our present knowledge of poisonous plants dates back mainly to the middle and latter part of the nineteenth century, after rapid advances had been made in botany and chemistry. The number of poisonous plants known at the present time is very large, numbering thousands. It is rather difficult to give an exact definition of a poisonous plant for the toxic substances produced by plants vary very much under different conditions. Under poisonous plants might be included all such plants that, when man or animals come in contact with them or when parts of the plants or their products are taken into the animal body, they cause injurious symptoms, and tend to produce death or serious detriment to health. What is poison to one animal may be food to another, or at least entirely harmless. A plant may be poisonous to man and not to animals; this is true to a certain degree for poison ivy, a very common plant that is at once suggested when poisonous plants are mentioned. Many animals eat this plant with perfect impunity. Snails can stand larger doses of strychnine than man. A rabbit is capable of withstanding larger doses of morphine than man. The hedgehog can stand far more prussic acid than man can. The age and health of the individual have a very important bearing on the degree of the toxicity. A young animal is usually much more susceptible to poison than an older one. In like manner the age of the plants has a direct relation to the amount and concentration of the poisons contained. In the younger stages of growth the poke-weed has no poisonous principles but later it developes the acrid alkaloid phytolaccin, and other toxic substances. The manner of applying or injecting the poison varies the effectiveness of it. Some substances are more poisonous when applied to the skin, or injected subcutaneously. than when taken into the digestive tract. Certain plant contents are harmless when applied to the skin, but when taken into the alimentary canal and the digestive ferments' act on them, they become deadly poisons; such the case with the glucoside 4

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ilflg (§wcbm In these days of gardens and garden making, when many of us are cultivating the flowers our grandmothers cared for and loved, you may be interested to know how a garden was laid out and planted by one who could not even sec the flowers. This garden lies in a darkened room, no sunshine falls upon it, no pale moonlight floods its fragrant blossoms, and even the breezes must be tempered ere they are welcomed, but it grows and thrives and gives a world of comfort and pleasure. Come and walk with me through this garden of mine. Here you will enter through the wide gateway of imagination. Let us wander down the central path. It is firm and hard because it is made of Grit, and on both sides are lovely flowers in bloom. Here is a large bed of Patience, the coloring is always soft and gentle; there a bed of beautiful, bright blossoms of Hope; near by the sturdy, vigorous plants called Courage, climbing high on Steadfast poles; and that dear little vine running close to the ground, in and out among the other flowers, is known as Cheerfulness. There is a small hot-bed in that south-emly corner where I raise Smiles, because, as you well know, very often it happens that they have to be forced. Down at the end of the path trickles a tiny fountain. It sings a trusting little song and in its shining pool I wash away my tears and fears. See what a high fence I have built around my garden! It is made of Determination, with good -stout posts of Perseverance. This protection is absolutely necessary to keep out the Grumble Vine, an annoying, persistent weed, doing no end of harm, which grows just outside and is continually trying to creep in. It runs along on a sort of Fret-work of its own devising, and once became so strong and pushing, it actually broke down a portion of the fence and crept into the garden. I repaired the break with a good piece of Pluck, and cut down the vines. Alas! the root is always there, although if I am watchful the tendrils rarely get over the barrier. Outside my garden grows a large tree, in appearance something like a Weeping Willow; it is called the tree of Discouragement, and often casts a shade over my beds of beautiful flowers. Occasionally, just at nightfall, a big black bird comes and sings in the branches; it is known as the Complaining Bird and makes its nest in the swamp of Self Pity. It has a dreary, mournful, depressing note to which I try to pay no heed. It does not come very often, and if I refuse to listen, flies away. The only im- Flement I have used in my garden is an ron Will. Let me gather for you a nosegay of Patience. Hope, Courage and Cheerfulness. You will see that T always tie the blossoms together with a string of Good Resolutions. You, too, can enter through the same gateway and make a beautiful garden of your own, but you must plant and cultivate the flowers yourself. 3 —Contributea by H. L.

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amygdlain from which by enzyme action the deadly prus-sic acid is liberated. The effect produced by vegetable poisons differ, in that some produce skin disease, as poison ivy, poison oak, certain fungi, etc. Other plant poisons when taken into the system cause various disorders, a number affecting the nervous centres. Some effects are mechanical. The ordinary fodder plants, in no sense poisonous, often cause serious disorders among domestic animals when taken in too large quantities. In view of the varying effects produced by plant toxins under varied conditions, it is very difficult to make an accurate list of the plants that are poisonous. Among the lower forms of plant life, many forms could be cited. During the last twenty-five years especial emphasis has been put on the study of bacteria, minute plants, so small that no doubt many of them are too small for us to see even with the most powerful microscope. Some are instrumental in bringing about the decomposition of organic substances and in this process liberate many toxic products, among these the ptomaines, alkaloidal compounds, whicn when taken into the system cause serious disorders and very often produce death. The disease-producing bacteria could well be called poisonous plants. In the large group of the fungi, which includes mushrooms, toadstools, rusts, smuts, mildews, molds, etc., many poisonous forms are found. Among the fleshy fungi it is often very difficult to distinguish between those that contain toxic principles and those that are harmless. Through ig- norance of those points which distinguish poisonous from ediuie lift 1 10 4. . ( of poisoning occur, often resulting in uv.au. These errors of identification have been frequent enough to inspire the timid with a decided dread of all fungi. Fortunately there are relatively few of the fleshy fungi that are deadly. The question is often asked : “how can one be absolutely certain of the poisonous forms?” Captain Macllvaine says that there is no fixed rule by whicl the poisonous and the edible fungi can separated. He gives two suggestion “Never eat a toadstool found in the woods or shady places, believing it to be the common mushroom. Never eat a white or yel-low-gilled toadstool.” Most of the cases of mushroom p. ri are due to the “Death Cup” (Amanita plial loides) often mistaken for the comm mushroom by the gatherer of edible fun The bulbous base of the stipe, the white gills and white spores are a few of the characters which distinguish it from Agari-cus campestris which lacks the “bulb” and has pinkish or brownish gills and dark-colored spores. The toxic property is phallin, a tox-albumin which acts on the red blood corpuscles, dissolving them. Atropine is used as an antidote for the poison. Many cases of poisoning have been attributed to the Fly Amanita (Amanita mus-caria), a closely allied species which is widely distributed, but can be recognized by its orange-red or pale yellow cap, over which flocculent scales are scattered. The spores are white, as in the other species. (To be concluded). 5