DAUBENTONIA LONGIFOUA (COFFEE BEAN), A 

 POISONOUS PLANT 



By C. Dwight Marsh and A. B. Clawson 

 Physiologists, Bureau of Animal Industry, United States Department of Agriculture 



Daubentonia longifolia, known in some localities as the "coffee bean," 

 was first brought to the attention of the Department of Agriculture when, 

 in February, 191 8, Inspector J. B. Reidy, of Houston, Tex.*, sent in a 

 sample of the plant and stated that a sheepman who had lost several 

 hundred sheep thought this plant was the cause. He reported also the 

 result of a post-mortem examination of one of the animals. 



Preliminary experiments showed that the plant is toxic, and further 

 work has made it clear that it is very poisonous and may be the cause 

 of considerable losses of live stock. 



DESCRIPTION OF THE PLANT 



Daubentonia longifolia D. C. (PI. 62), called by some authors Sesbania 

 cavanillesii Watson, is a shrub or small tree of the pulse family (Legumi- 

 nosae), which includes the locusts, mesquites, etc. The leaves are alter- 

 nate and pinnate, with 12 to 60 leaflets, which are oblong and pointed. 

 The flowers, varying in color from scarlet to yellow, are in racemes which 

 are shorter than the leaves. The pods are oblong, compressed, with four 

 wings rising from the margins of the valves and produced beyond the 

 sutures. The seeds are separated from one another by transverse par- 

 titions. 



The plant is found on sandy soils from Florida to central Texas and as 

 far north as the northeastern border of Texas. In some places, as in the 

 lower Rio Grande and San Antonio regions, it is very abundant. In 

 Houston and vicinity it is common along the roadsides and in waste 

 places. Farther east it is confined rather closely to the Gulf region. 



While this species does not appear to have been considered poisonous — 

 in fact it is said by Havard l that the seeds have been used for coffee — 

 it is an interesting fact that at various times some closely related plants 

 have been said to be poisonous. 



EXPERIMENTAL WORK 



The experimental work on this plant was done in the summers of 191 8 

 and 1 91 9. Excluding the animals that received extracts in various forms 

 and those which were offered the plant and refused to eat, 42 experiments 

 were made with sheep. Table I gives a summarized statement of these 

 experiments. 



1 Havard, V. report on the flora op western and southern Texas. In Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., 

 v. 8, no. 32, p. 500. 1885. 



Journal of Agricultural Research, Vo1 - ~ sx < No - 6 



Washington, D. C Dec - «• I9 A 20 



wd Key No. A-54 



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