POISONOUS NATIVE PLANTS.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume LXI, Issue 9699, 2 November 1909, Page 6

POISONOUS NATIVE PLANTS.

In Tarauaki there are several species of native shrubs and at least one class of forest tree that possess poisonous qualities iv a very marked degree (says tlie Stratford Post). The destruction caused amougst cattle by tlie tutu is too well authenticated to require any fresh comment; but we believe it is not generally known that human beings have narrowly escaped deatli by sucking the) temptiug clusters of fruit which this shrub bears in profusion. Strange to say, it is not the juice of the truit that causes trouble, but tlie minute seeds. Then tiiere is tne shrub commonly known as the hauraugi (drunk), provided with a large leaf, green on top and whitish beneath. We are not aware that stock take kindly to its foliage; it does not afford such temptation as the tender shoots of tutu just peeping out of the ground after a burn, aud the eating of which means almost certain death to auy beast partaking thereof on au empty stomach. The wood of the hauraugi is said to possess a very stroug poison. Men acquainted with its properties have been kuown to put chips in their mouths whilst bushfelliug, aud very soon thereafter become delirious, reeling about much like a drunken man would do.

The puriri—the tree referred to—is perhaps ouly to be dreaded if a splinter enters any part of the body. The wood is dark coloured aud gives off a very strong odor. It is considered by "those who have had experieuce of both that a splinter from the puriri causes more pain aud anxiety thau a iislibone.