“A similar burning flavor is found in the white milk-like juice that runs from the euphorbia when cut. The euphorbia are plants of mean appearance, very common everywhere. Their flowers, small and yellowish, grow in a head, the even branches of which radiate at the top of the stem. These plants are easily recognized by their white juice, their milk, which runs in abundance from the cut stems. This juice is dangerous, even on the skin alone, if it is tender; its acrid, burning taste is its sufficient characteristic. [Illustration: Aconites] “The aconites, like digitalis, are fine plants which for their beauty have been introduced in gardens, notwithstanding the violence of their poison. They are found in hilly countries. Their blossoms are blue or yellow, helmet-shaped, and grow in an elegant terminal bunch of the finest effect. Their leaves, of a lustrous green, are cut out in radiating sprays. The aconites are very poisonous. The violence of their poison has given them the name of dog’s-bane and wolf’s-bane. History tells us that formerly arrow-heads and lance-heads were soaked in the juice of the aconites, to poison the wounds made in war and to make them mortal. “There is sometimes cultivated in our gardens a shrub with large shiny leaves, which do not fall in winter, and with black, oval berries as large as acorns. It is the cherry-bay. All its parts, leaves, flowers, and berries, have the odor of bitter almonds and peach kernels. The leaves of the cherry-bay are sometimes used to give their perfume to cream and milk products. They should be used only with great prudence, for the cherry-bay is extremely poisonous. They even say one has only to remain some time in its shade to become indisposed from its exhalations of a bitter-almond odor. “In autumn there is seen in abundance, in damp fields, a large and beautiful flower, rose or lilac in color, that rises from the ground alone, without stem or leaves. It is the colchicum, called also meadow saffron, or _veillotte_, also _veilleuse_, because it blossoms on the eve of the cold season. If you dig a little way down, you will find that this flower starts from a rather large bulb, covered with a brown skin. Colchicum is poisonous; so cows never touch it. Its bulb is still more poisonous. “But we have talked enough about harmful plants for to-day. I should be afraid of befogging your memories were I to enter into more details. Next Sunday I will expect you again, my friends, and will talk to you about mushrooms.” ------------------------------------------------------------------------ CHAPTER LIX THE BLOSSOM