Stipa.

Stipa.—According to Gillespie (B. M. J., Oct., 1898), a number of species of this genus of grasses are actively poisonous, and have caused death in horses and other domestic animals. Of such character especially are Stipa viridula Trin., Stipa inebrians Hance, and Stipa sibirica Lam., of the Russian steppes. A few experiments made with Stipa viridula Trin., a plant growing in the prairies and meadows from western Minnesota to the Dakotas and southernward, indicated that it acts powerfully upon the brain and spinal cord.

Stipa Vaseyi Scribner.—According to Vernon Bailey this grass, which grows on the mountains of California, is a very active narcotic, producing in animals, which graze upon it, sleep lasting for a week or longer. (See Farwell, Merck's Rep., 1911, p. 271.)


The Dispensatory of the United States of America, 1918, was edited by Joseph P. Remington, Horatio C. Wood and others.