The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1895-06-08
POISON PLANTS.
Discoveries About Some which Have
Been Unexpected Hitherto.
From the Washington star.

From the Washington Star.
The fatal adventure that befell some boys
the other day who chewed certain parts of
plants which they thought were dande.
lions was an incident Of a kind most unfor-
tunately common. only rwo years ago Ave
school children at TarrytOwn, y Y, lost
their lives through incautiously eating
some roots which they took for sweet dag.
In the latter case 1t was ascertained by Mr..
Coville. botanist Of the department of ag-
riculture, that the root in question De-
longed to the common elder, which pre-
viously had not been suspected Of being
dangerous
The department of agriculture, a writer
Tor the star is Informed, has begun an in
vesugation Of the poisonous plants of the
United States, which is to have special ref
erence to the chemical ana other charac-
teristics of such OF them as are least
known. The division of botany, under Mr..
Covile, Will try incidentally TO separate
the active principles OF The poisons of these
plants and to find out to what uses they
may be applied IN madeleine 1t Is hoped
that In this manner some new and valua-
BILE remedies may be discovered. The pois-
ons VIII be tried on guinea pigs and other
animals for experimental purposes
one very important group of poisonous
plants, concerning the toxic properties of
which very little has been known until re-
Gently, includes certain laursls and rhobo-
dendrons. In 1870 many cases of poisoning
| occurred in Philadelphia, which were trac-
ed to certain honey and to the eating of
the flesh of ruffed grouse 1t was proved
that the grouse had fed on the buds of the
broad-leaved laurel and it was more than
suspected that the honey was derived by
bees from the blossoms of the same tree
Several deaths occurred al this time from
| the cause mentioned, so that the sale Of
ruffer grouse was prohibited IN the mar
kets of the Quaker city.
! Recently the broad-leaved laurel has
been analysed by a Dutch scientist named
Plugge and by an American named Las
che who have obtained from IL the same
poison as that which characterizes the
| rhododendron of the Black sea. From this
rbodOdendron comes the honey which Is
called by the Persians deli kali" or mad
honey" The honey Of the region of the
Black sea has been known for thousands
of years as possessing toxic properties 1t
is found chiefly in Trebzond, and is used
there for medicine and also to increase
the intoxicating effects Of liquor For
the latter purpose 1t Is sold In Constln-
tinople In large quantities II is very dan
gerous.
thousand, of which Xenophon wrote. the
soldiers encamped in Trcbizond and found
wild honey in abundance. They partook
of 1t freely, and II made them very sick
Even dogs that ate II suffered from severe
symptoms. The rhododendron was sus.
pected at the time of being at the bottom
OF the mischief Plugge has made a gen
eral and comprehensive Investigation Of
this group of "ericaceous" plants, which
includes the laurels and rhododendrons.
and he finds that half of them are poison
Gus. Lambs and young calves eat them in
winter for lack OF other green food and
died. The so-called 'lambkilr' IS one of the
same family, but is not poisonous Poison
is found in the broad-leayed laurel the
narrow-leaved laurel and also in the
mountain laurel, which is a large-leayed
rhododrendron.
Deer feed on these plants with i'm
punity and likewise the rdffer grouse.
Thus it comes about that the flesh Of