ing in a neglected
corner of the garden as well as in waste places. It is a tall plant; the
one I remember in our own garden reached to the top of a five-foot board
fence. Its leaves are rather triangular in shape, they are dark green
and the wavy edges are notched rather than toothed. The flowers are
white and grow in small clusters. The fruit is a berry, round, black,
and smooth, with calyx adhering to it. The berry clusters grow at the
end of drooping stems. This must not be mistaken for the high-bush
blueberry, for to eat the fruit would be most dangerous.

The antidotes for nightshade poison are emetics, cathartics, and
stimulants. The poison should be thrown off the stomach first, then
strong coffee be given as a stimulant.

=Pokeweed, Pigeonberry=

Pokeweed comes under the heading of poisonous plants though its berries
are eaten by birds, and its young shoots are said to be almost equal in
flavor, and quite as wholesome, as asparagus. It seems to be the large
perennial root that holds the poison, though some authorities claim that
the poison permeates the entire plant to a certain extent. The root is
sometimes mistaken for that of edible plants and the young leaves for
those of the marsh-marigold, which are edible when cooked. It is a tall
plant with a stout stem and emits a strong odor. You will find it
growing by the wayside and in rocky places. The leaves are oblong and
pointed at the tips and base. They have no teeth. The small white
flowers are in clusters. The fruit is a small, flat, dark-purple berry,
growing in long, upstanding clusters on a central stalk. The individual
stem of the berry is very short. The name inkberry was given to the
plant because of the strong stain of the berry juice which was sometimes
used for ink. Pokeweed is at home in various states, Maine to Minnesota,
Arkansas, and Florida.

=Poison-Hemlock=

The poison-hemlock is well known historically, being in use at the time
of Socrates, and believed to have been administered to him by the
Greeks. It is quite as poisonous now as in Socrates's day, and
accidental poisoning has come from people eating the seeds, mistaking
them for anise-seed, eating the leaves for parsley and the roots for
parsnips. The plant grows from two to seven feet high; its stem is
smooth and spotted or streaked with purplish-red. It has large,
parsley-like leaves and pretty clusters of small, white flowers which
grow, stiff-stemmed, from a common centre a