96 THE WEEDS OF NEW SOUTH WALES. 



Botanical Name. Xantliium f Greek Xantlios, yellow, some plants belong- 

 ing to the genus having been used in ancient times by the Greeks to dye 

 their hair. Spinosum, Latin, in allusion to the strong spines possessed by 

 our plant. 



Popular Description. A rigid, much-branched, annual shrub, of 1 to 3 

 feet high, very spinous. The fruit is nearly egg-shaped, and covered with 

 hooked prickles. 



Well known as the plant is, many people are still ignorant of it; the 

 object of this article is to forewarn such, and to stimulate to action those 

 who know the pest, and who are passive in regard to it. 



Botanical Description. 



This will be found at page 535 of the third volume of the Flora Australian siit. 

 The Bathurst burr belongs to the same family as the Daisy, viz., the Compositce. 

 It is what is called a monoecious plant that is to say, the male and female 

 flowers are distinct, though on the same plant. The female flowers are, of 

 course, succeeded by the fruit, and these fruits form the burrs to which the 

 noxiousness of the plant is mainly due. The hooked prickles on the fruits 

 seem to be wonderfully contrived to attach themselves to wool, c. The trih'd, 

 or three-pronged spines, are very strong, and increase the formidable nature of 

 the plant. 



Is the Bathurst Burr Poisonous? In the year 1880, Dr. Joseph Bancroft 

 read a paper before the Queensland Philosophical Society, entitled " The 

 newly-introduced poisonous burr, Xantliium strumarium." This plant was 

 reputed to have caused the death of a number of cows, and Dr. Bancroft, 

 having experimented on small animals with an extract of the plant, pro- 

 nounced it to be poisonous. He adds, " To follow out further the inquiry 

 into the properties of the genus Xantliium, I prepared extract from X. 

 spiriosum, the so-called Bathurst burr. This plant is not eaten by cattle, 

 and in its young state possesses none of the soft, tempting foliage of X. 

 strumarium, so that we never hear of cattle being poisoned by eating it. 

 Extract of the Bathurst burr gave similar results, differing in no way from 

 the poison of Xantliium strumarium." I refer my readers to the paper itself,, 

 but such advances have taken place in the methods of inquiry into poison- 

 plants during the last few years that I do not think Dr. Bancroft himself 

 would now consider his experiments conclusive. At the same time, I invite 

 my readers to state any evidence they can bring forward which may seem 

 to point to the poisonous nature of the Bathurst burr. Speaking of X. 

 strumarium, which in America is known as Cocklebur or Clotbur, Mr. Goff, 

 Bulletin No. 39 of the Agricultural Experiment Station of the University 

 of Wisconsin, says : " It has been said that the plant is poisonous to cattle, 

 but this is probably a mistake. It is at least known that cattle sometimes 

 eat sparingly of it without serious results." (See an article by me on X. 

 strumarium, " Noogoora Burr," in the Agricultural Gazette for October,. 

 1899.) 



How to get rid of it. It is too much to expect to entirely get rid of this- 

 all-prevailing pest, but, with patience, it can be largely kept in check. It 

 should be prevented from maturing seed, and, therefore, it should be cut 

 down with a hoe or mattock in the spring or summer; where convenient it 

 is also desirable to burn the plants as soon as they are dry enough to admit 

 of this being done, as large quantities of seeds are produced, the destruction 

 of which should be ensured. Serious as has been the spread of this weed 

 already, it is still spreading, and to permit this to go on unchecked is simply 



