101 
ROYAL BOTANIC GARDENS, KEW, to WAR OFFICE. 
Royal Bowie Gardens, Kew, 
SIR, November 12, 1900. 
IH the honour to acknowledge be receipt of your 
letter of | Woveu bas 8 [116 (Cape) 1657] enclosing a report, here- 
with returned, on the death of a number of trek oxen alleged to 
have been poisoned by eating certain plants while grazing in South 
Africa, ee asking for their. identification and for information on 
the subje 
2. The s pecimen labelled Kuphorhium is Chailletia cymosa. 
This i is a native of the ‘Transy aal. It belongs to a genus of which 
perhaps e score of species are known from Tropical Africa. 
Of one, Chailletia tox fearia, the seeds are used as a rat-poison in 
Sierra 
3. The poi onous roe: se Chailletia ete have only 
lately atracted attention. The information in our possession 
is con n the molend pe Ba the Agricultural Journal 
pablished” be the Department of Agriculture for the Cape of Good 
ope for mi ae pa 9 las 
4, The non-poisonous plant, of which a specimen was sent, is 
aphagea hs piaiag A note in the Kew Herbarium states that 
Se on the flats Rctaneras the poison 
alg ee why it, Called the apple by the Boe 
no 
mM 
Tam, &e., 
(Signed) W. T. THISELTON-DYER. 
Sir Ralph Knox, K.C.B 
War Office, London, BW. 
Enclosure.) 
EXTRACT from Cape Agricultural Journal, Vol. XV., pp. 663-664. 
Poisonous Herb (Chailletia cymosa, Hk.). 
By Saturday’s post I forwarded to your Department a small 
arcel of a poisonous herb which grows abundantly in this 
district and is very fatal to cattle and any kind of ruminant. It 
seems only to be dangerous at this time of the year, just after the 
young shoots come out of the ground and cattle are ravenous after 
neighbour seven. It is the first’ season I have been on the place, 
and had not been warned of its whereabouts, so for safety sake 
had sake cattle herded near the homestead, and unfortunately kept 
em on the only patch of poison on the farm. The first intima- 
tion of it I had was a cow making a few turns and dropping dead 
and all the others died within 46 hours, or three days after eating 
the poison. Some, as I have said, drop dead ass any sign of 
being sick ; —_ have fits, as with strychnine; in most ca 
their legs becom e paralyzed and they won’t os and the least 
Passe ache kills them. I may also mention that after death the 
inner coat of the stomach peels off as if it had been boiled, and 
the animal does not blow up until after-death, when it does to 
a great extent. 
Zwartkop, Pretoria, L. N. BEAN, 
September 18 
