Some Plants Poisonous to Livestock

Abstract

Poisoning of livestock may be caused either by some of the flowerless plants such as fungi, lichens, etc., or by flowering plants such as the gramineae and leguminosae. This article deals with plants of the second group only, inasmuch as they are more extensively concerned with the poisoning of livestock. The history of poisoning by plants in India can be traced to the remote past. The earliest mention is to be found in the Rig Veda, which is one of the oldest repositories of human knowledge, while further details may be gleaned from the Charaka Samhita and the Shushruta Samhita. Although some poisonous plants are protected by an unpleasant odour. an acid or bitter teste, or by spines, the poisoning of animals by such plants is of common occurrence, in spite of the widespread belief that they are protected by some instinct against eating dange rous plants. The important contributory factors incidental to poisoning are: (1) the ingestion of wilted, frosted or defoliated plants during drought. (2) the scarcity of palutable fodder during winter und early spring, (3) fatigue in trans- port and draught animals, (4) lack of salt, (5) a depraved oppetite. (6) the fact that poisonous plants often grow in close association with palatable fodder. (7) the importation or transport of animals to new surroundings, and (8) the ingestion of poisonous plants along with bay.