333 



THE ACTIVE PRINCIPLE OF EBYTHUOPHLOEUM LABOUCHERII. 



By James M. PetriEj D.Sc, F.I.C, Linnean Macleay Fellow of the 

 Society in Biochemisti-y. 



{From the Physiological Laboratory of the University of tlydney.) 



(Plates xsiii.-xxiv., and two Text-figures.) 



Erythrophloeum Laboucherii is the Ironwood tree of the Northern Territory 

 and Queensland. It was flret described by Baron von Mueller (2), in 1859, 

 under the name of Laboucheria chlorostachya, and subsequently as E. chlorostachys 

 (F. V. M.) BailUn, and E. Laboucherii F. v. M. The latter is the name used in 

 Bentham's Flora Australiensis, in the Index Kewensis and Engler's Botany (1). 



This tree is a member of the family Leguminosae and is often referred to 

 as Leichhardt's leguminous ironbark tree, or the ironwood tree. Besides the 

 original latin description by von Mueller, the leaves, flowers and pods are 

 figured in the same author's work on Australian Acacias (3) and reproduced, 

 with further notes, in the Queensland Agricultural Journal by F. M. Bailey (7). 

 It is also described in the Queensland Flora (5) and in Bailey's Weeds and 

 Poisonous Plants of Queensland, with an illustration (6). [See Plate xxiii.) 



Planchon, in 1907, described witli great detail the comparative anatomy of 

 E. chlorostachya, E. guineense, E. couminga, and E. Fordi, in a French publica- 

 tion, and a full abstract of this (9) may be seen in Just's Jahresbericht for 1908. 



At the beginning of an investigation of this kind where much time and labour 

 may be expended on one particular plant, it is of importance to have some general 

 knowledge of the genus to which it belongs. In many instances information of 

 much value is obtained by a consideration of the position of a plant relative to 

 the other species, and by a knowledge of the prominent characteristics, or of any 

 remarkable properties which may have been recorded for other members of the 

 genus. With this object the following data have been collected regarding the 

 world distribution of the genus Erythrophloeum. 



This genus appears to be contmed to the Old World, and 12 species are known. 

 In the great forests of Central Africa grows the dreaded ordeal tree of the pigmies, 

 Erythrophloeum guineense, and all parts of this tree have long been known to 

 contain a very poisonous alkaloid, named erythrophleine. 



Three other species belonging to tropical Africa are E. purpurascens Chev., 

 E. ivcrense Chev., and E. picbistanineum Henn., but the nature of their juices 

 is unknown. 



In Madagascar is found E. couminga Baill.; then crossing into Asia, we 

 find in Further India and China five different species, E. Fordi and four others. 



Descending to the Philippine Islands one species is met with, E. densiflorum 

 (Elmer) Merrill. This plant has been investigated chemically in 1917 by Brill 

 and Wells (20), who found, however, that it contained no poisonous substance. 

 In this species the alkaloid of E. guineense was proved absent. 



