=Marsh Marigold= or =King-Cup= (_Caltha palustris_ L.). Like the species of _Ranunculus_, the Marsh Marigold is to some extent poisonous in character, and both animals and man have suffered. Cattle have died from eating it, and Müller records the poisoning of many horses, one of which died. In general, animals refuse it, but may possibly eat it when pressed with hunger in times of scarcity of green herbage. Cornevin states that it has little or no acrid properties when very young, but that it is toxic by the time of flowering—acridity increasing with age. _Toxic Principle._ The toxic character of the Marsh Marigold has not been fully investigated, though the presence of an alkaloid has been determined, and A. B. Smith states that the toxic properties are due to the alkaloid _Jervine_ (C_{26}H_{37}O_{3}N2H_{2}O) and the glucoside _Helleborin_ (C_{36}H_{42}O_{6}). On drying—_e.g._ in hay—the plant becomes harmless, as in the case of most species of _Ranunculus_. _Symptoms._ Cornevin records that _cattle_ have died from inflammation of the digestive tract, and gives the symptoms as those of _Ranunculus_ poisoning. There seem to be digestive troubles, diarrhœa, and loss of milk production, even (according to Rusby) when fed with hay. In the _horse_, there is colic, bloating, and inflammation of the bladder, while the urine is dark red. According to Cornevin, the symptoms are similar to those produced by _Ranunculus_ sp. Pammel quotes Friedberger and Fröhner as stating that the plant causes hæmaturia. Five persons who ate it as a herb were “seized with violent sickness and pain in the abdomen, followed by diarrhœa and general œdematous swelling over the whole body,” but they recovered (Johnson and Sowerby). REFERENCES. 63, 81, 140, 190, 203, 213, 233.