POISON IN FLOWERS.

Press, Volume LX, Issue 18204, 15 October 1924, Page 13

POISON IN FLOWERS.

AZALEAS AND TRUMPET FLOWERS. (IBOM OTTE OW COJUUSSOXDWST.) SYDNEY, October 0. Tliero aie, it seems, among the flowers that bloom iu tho' spring those that carry with them the lurking danger of poison. A recent discussion on tho point at the Linncan Society in Sydt ney lias provoked an interesting cor* respondence through the columns of tho Press. It appears that an employee in tho Botanic Gardens had been rendered temporarily blind by coming in contact with the sap from a broke* branch of the plant known commonlj a3 the trumpet flower, which produces large trumpet-shaped flowers of a crcamy-whitc colour. It was statci that there was a danger of anyone coming in contact being rendered permanently blind. One of the speakers mentioned that tho Government had determined to prohibit the planting of _lceland poppies because the flowers poisoned bees. It %vas stated that the honey produced from azaleas was poisonous. Nest, the white oleander was brought before the gravo and sedate Linncan jury. Its sap was declared injurious not" only to bees, but also to animals and human beings. The trumpet flower, which had been temporarily forgotten, was then called up for sentence. IJ was declared an undesirable alien, that should be dug out and burned, as it was impossible to send it back to its native habitat, the West Indies. fhe poor trumpet flower was just about tc hang its head, feeling that all the worm was against it, when a doctor rushed into print, protesting against the ad vice to dig it up and burn it, and q'les tioning the fact that it had ever |ro duced blindness, even temporarily. »&'■• doctor says, however, that he had h;"' the properties of the plant analysed bj chemists, with 1 interesting .results. Th' chemists extracted an alkaloid which has similar properties to those of atro phinc (the alkaloid of belladonna) fw duboisine, drops, the doctor says, wnici arc used daily bv ophthalmic surg*orn temporarily to paralyse the aecommoda tiou of the eve, but which do not c*us. blindness, even temporarily, much its* permanently Thus has the tnunpei flower snatched a fresh lease oi J+e from the Linncan despots-