CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTION.

=What is a Poisonous Plant?= As will be shown later, so-called “poisonous” plants differ widely in “degree of harmfulness,” and it is highly probable that under ordinary conditions many of the plants commonly reputed to be poisonous are really almost or quite harmless. It is possible, however, that a plant usually unsuspected may on occasion prove noxious—for example, _Nepeta Glechoma_ (p. 96), included as suspected of poisoning horses. For these reasons, no line of demarcation can be drawn to separate actually poisonous plants from those which are suspected or are almost certainly quite harmless; and a large number of species is included in