The Redwood gazette. [volume] (Redwood Falls, Minn.) 1873-1940, 1874-07-09

mercury-vine. That II has direct &C.
ton on the liver the writer knows from
experience, having felt the internal Of
fects Of the poison.
The best remedy to relieve the swelling
is solution of sugar of lead in water,
applied as lotion to the parts affected;
permanganate Of potash is also used for
the same purpose. To relieve the itching
and vascular Inflammation rye flour
toasted over the fire in q pan clean of
grease until of the color of roasted
coffee, and busted ON the affected parts,
is very useful remedy. In no case
should any greasy or oily ointment or
application he made, as It only aggra-
Yates the symptoms. A cooling aperient
drink taken occasionally is of great assist
lance. Homeopathic physicians pre-
scribe "rhus," and in internal poisoning
we have found relief from it.
The pOis0n-sumac is even more poison
GUS than the poison-vine, as we have
known persons poisoned by the exhala-
tions from it's leaves blowing upon them,
without their coming in contact with the
plant at all. The same remedies or pal
liatives are to be used for it as for the
other species.
What is known among botanists as the
family of UmbellJere. or the parsley
family, contains large number Of dam
gerously poisonous plants. In this order
or family are included the carrot, pars-
nip, parsley, celery, and a few others Of
our cultivated vegetables and herbs.
These in their cultivated state have no
noxious qualities, but in their wild state
are, to say the least, suspicious. The
whole family have strongly re-
semblance, making the order one of the
most natural and distinct of any of the
orders or families instituted by botanists.
A reference to the plants named will
give more distinct idea of the general
appearance of the plants composing the
order than any popular description
would do.
Among the native genera growing in
woods and fields which are especially to
be avoided as articles of diet, and not
even to I've placed in the mouth, are the
wild carrot, wild parsnip, cow-parsnip,
cow bane, hemlOck- parsley, fools-pars-
ley, water hemlock (the roots of which
are deadly poison), water-parsnip, and
poison hemlock (also virulent poison)
Every season the newspapers contain &C
counts of persons being poisoned and
dying from eating one or other of these
plants, either intentionally as vegetables,
installing them for the cultivated repre-
sentatives of the family, or from igno-
rantly eating the leaves or roots. Some
are used as medicines both by the regu-
lar faculty and in domestic prescriptions,
but they should never he employed un-
less prescribed by regular physician.
We would advise our readers to let any
plant they may find in a wild state that
resembles any of the vegetables above
mentioned severely alone.
Sometimes children are poisoned or in
jured by attempting to eat the root of the
drwns, commonly known as Indian turnip,
Jack-in-a-box, wake-robin, Jack-in-a-pul-
pit, green-dragOn, dragOn-rOot and various
other names This is also distinctly
marked botanical order, of which the
well-known Gala lily may be taken as q
familiar example. The root of the Indian
turnip has an intensely acrid juice, caus-
ing, when chewed, great irritation of the
throat and sometimes blistering the
tongue and mouth, and producing trouble
some swelling of the fauces. Many of
the family produce snowy -colOred berries,
but they should never be eaten, as nearly
the whole order are suspicious or danger
GUS when taken internally.
The root, leaves, and berries of the
Phyt0lacc0, commonly known as poke
weed, scoke and garget, are poisonous;
the young stout shoots are sometimes
eaten boiled as asparagus, the boiling
appearing to destroy the poisonous quail
ity, or perhaps it may not be developed
in the young state Of the plant. When
older it is certainly poisonous.
The SolanuDs, or potato family, like the
UnabeNitsre, contains several species that
are cultivated as vegetables, such as the
potato, the eggplant, the tomato and
peppers, but also contains many species
that are suspicious or decidedly poison
Gus, the berries Of some of them being
snowy and tempting to children. The
whole order is dangerous, as in many Of
them one part of the plant may be safely
used while another part may be danger
Gus, as in the potato the tubers of which
are so wholesome, and the leaves and
berries poisonous. Of this family there
are not many species native northward.
The principal dangerous species are the
Datura strNmonium, commonly known as
thorn-apple, jamestown weed, and stink
weed; the HyOscydmuS, or nenOane; the
bitter-sweet; the common nightshade;
the deadly-nightshade, and the matri-
mony-vine. The dark purple, almost
black, berries of the deadly -nightshade
or belladonna are sometimes eaten by
children, producing death.
Children sometimes also eat the berries
of the Rhamnus, or buckthorn, which is
violent and drastic purgative, frequently
producing dangerous symptoms.
The only safe way to avoid unpleasant
or dangerous effects is to scrupulOusly
refrain from handling or chewing any
plant, or any part of it, unless the plant
is we'll known to you, and known to be
innoxiOus.-Horper's Bazar.