. A manual of weeds : with descriptions of all the most pernicious and troublesome plants in the United States and Canada, their habits of growth and distribution, with methods of control . Weeds. ANACARDIACEAE (CASHEW FAMILY) 275 A very poisonous plant, far too common everywhere, for to many persons the touch of it brings disaster, blotching the skin with burn- ing " water-blisters " and causing the flesh beneath to swell hideously and throb with a pain so intense as to be alarming. Fortunately such an attack leaves no scars and the general health is not injured. Chemical analysis h
. A manual of weeds : with descriptions of all the most pernicious and troublesome plants in the United States and Canada, their habits of growth and distribution, with methods of control . Weeds. ANACARDIACEAE (CASHEW FAMILY) 275 A very poisonous plant, far too common everywhere, for to many persons the touch of it brings disaster, blotching the skin with burn- ing " water-blisters " and causing the flesh beneath to swell hideously and throb with a pain so intense as to be alarming. Fortunately such an attack leaves no scars and the general health is not injured. Chemical analysis has shown that the poison is a nonvolatile oil, found in all parts of the plant, even the seasoned wood, but espe- cially in the growing leaves. It is insoluble in water, therefore wash- ing the skin after contact merely serves to spread the trouble; but alcohol will at once dissolve and remove it, and, if applied soon enough, will prove the prevention that is better than cure. If too late for that, a little powdered sugar of lead, dissolved in alcohol, will check the eruption and soothe the pain. This remedy is also a poison, and care must be taken to keep it out of eyes and mouth, and of course it should not be used if the vesicles have broken; in such case dilute ex- tract of Grindelia will check their spread and soothe the smart. The plant is sometimes an erect and bushy shrub, sometimes prostrate and trailing, sometimes a long, woody vine, climbing tall trees by means of aerial rootlets. Leaves compound, with three leaflets, ovate to rhombic, pointed, usually entire but sometimes scalloped or irregularly few-toothed, the two lateral ones sessile or on very short stalks, the terminal one longer. In form they are somewhat like the leaflets of the Virginia Creeper, or Woodbine (Psedera quinquefblia), but it should be remembered that those are five in number like the fingers ofthe, hand, and can be safely handled; but "Leaflets three, let it ; Flowers in loose, axi
Size: 1202px × 2079px
Photo credit: © Central Historic Books / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1910, booksubjectweeds, bookyear1919
