BY F. M. BAILEY, F.L.S. 7 



of the order in a general point of view, viz., that upon the whole 

 it must be considered poisonous, and that those species which 

 are used for food by man or animals are exceptions to the general 

 rule, the deleterious juices of the order not being in such instances 

 sufficiently concentrated to prove injurious and being in fact 

 replaced to a considerable extent by either sugar or starch." 

 This is verified in the first plant that will be brought into notice, 

 which by taking the tribes of the first sub-order Papilionacecd in 

 their proper order we find is Gastrolohium grandiflorum, F.v. Muell. 

 the Northern Poison Bush. This can scarcely be said to come 

 under the denomination of a medicinal plant, yet the active 

 principle which so sadly destroys stock, in the hands of a medical 

 man could doubtless be made to serve some useful purpose, and 

 it is to be hoped that before long attention will be turned to this 

 and a few other similar dangerous plants, and a careful course of 

 experiments carried out, which would be far better than a mere 

 analysis of the plants by a chemist The plant in question is 

 worthy of a j)lace in the garden from the beauty of its flowers ; 

 it grows to a few feet in height ; has opposite (or at times a few 

 alternate) leaves, which are usually oblong, obtuse, with a notch 

 at the end, and covered with close silky down. The flowers are 

 produced at the ends of branchlets in short racemes, and in colour 

 resembles the English Wallflower f Cheiranthus Cheri, Linn.). 



Tephrosia purpurea, Pers., is a small straggling under shrub 

 with pinnate leaves and purple small flowers, the racemes of which 

 are usually opposite the leaves. There are several varieties of 

 this species ; the Brisbane form may be seen on the borders of 

 creek scrubs. A decoction of the bitter root is prescribed by 

 Indian doctors in dyspepsia, dysentery and tympanites. 



Seshcmla grandijlora, Pers. A soft- wooded, rapid growing, small 

 tree of short duration, having long glaucous pinnato leaves of 

 often 20 to 30 oblong leaflets, common in India, found towards 

 our North-western boundary; is said to possess a powerfully bitter 

 tonic bark. The tree is of common occurrence in the gardens 



