Agonopterix alstroemeriana with the dry weight of the leaf. However, oviposition was not correlated positively with the concentration of alkaloids in the poison hemlock, which varies widely among individual plants. Therefore, it is difficult to predict whether increased alkaloids in the plant would increase or decrease the use of the hemlock moth as a biological control. The effects that the alkaloids in "Conium maculatum" cause on the moth, both physiologically and behaviorally, are relatively unknown. Persons interested in the biological control capabilities of "A. alstroemeriana" see behavioral dependency on the host plant as an asset when using this moth as a biological
Poison "gu" poison. Poison was also employed in gunpowder warfare. For example, the 14th-century Chinese text of the "Huolongjing" written by Jiao Yu outlined the use of a poisonous gunpowder mixture to fill cast iron grenade bombs. The term "poison" is also used in a figurative sense. The "[s]lang sense of "alcoholic drink" [is] first attested 1805, American English." (e.g., a bartender might ask a customer "what's your poison?") Figurative use of the term dates from the late 15th century. Figuratively referring to persons as poison dates from 1910. The figurative term "poison-pen letter" became well known in "...1913 by a