579 



brandies, with few large flowers on stalklets ; calyx softly hairy, 4 

 to 5 lines long, the lobes or points much shorter than the lower 

 part, the two upper ones broad, scythe-shaped, and united nearly 

 to the middle ; upper petal fully J of an inch diameter, lower 

 petals rather shorter, the lowermost much incurved and deeply 

 colored ; pod stalked, hairy, about J of an inch long, oval, pointed, 

 swollen. 



According to the late Baron von Mueller this tall shrub is a 

 tropic species only, growing in the Nickol Bay district, and also in 

 the tropical portions of South Australia, New South Wales, and 

 Queensland. He has recorded that it poisoned large numbers of 



ie and sheep on the Cape river in 1863-64. According to 

 Bailey and Gordon it is a virulent poison ; but drivers and 

 teamsters state that it ceases to be poisonous after the flower 

 appears. Analysis of dried specimens by Mr. Staiger failed to 

 show the poisonous constituent. It is called the " wallflower " 

 poison-bush, and is also known as the " Australian " and " desert " 

 poison.* 



(jiittrolobiuin oval (foti urn --k low shrub, its young branches 

 hairy, leaves mostly opposite, ovate, rounded or broadly oblong, 

 often notched at the end, to i inch long, margins thickened and 

 nerve-like, not wavy, leathery, hairless above, net-veined and hairy, 

 or at length deprived of hairs underneath ; bunches of flowers 

 scarcely stalked, rather slender, i to 3 in. long ; flowers nearly stalk- 

 less ; calyx hairy, 2\ to nearly 3 lines long ; lower petals deeply 

 Coloured; pod with a very short stalk, ovoid, pointed, about 3 lines 

 long. 



Referred to by Maiden (Agr. Gaz., N.S.W., v. 141) as the 

 " Broom " poison bush. 



See under Ox\lobium retusnin p. 582. 



Gastrolobium o.vylobioides. An erect shrub of i to 2 feet 

 nearly allied to G. calycinitin, which, however, is quite hairless 

 not much branched, without hairs or the young shoots and flower 

 stalks slightly silky-hoary ; leaves opposite or in threes, elliptical- 

 oblong, broad or narrow, tapering to a pungent point, i to ii, or 

 rarely 2 inches long, leathery, rigid, net-veined, and often folded 

 lengthwise ; bunches of flowers terminating the branches, or situated 

 in the angles of the upper leaves, consisting of few flowers in dis- 

 tant pairs or threes ; stalklets of flowers short ; calyx about 3 lines 

 long, silky-hairy, the lobes or points broad, the 2 upper ones united 



* Since the above was written a specimen of this plant has been received by 

 the Bureau from Mr. James Isdell, of Xullagine. He obtained it from Mr. F. H. 

 Hann, an old explorer, who recognised it as identical with a bush he had often 

 seen killing stock in Queensland. Mr. Isdell says it is a bushy shrub, reaching a 

 height of rive feet, and grows in what is generally known as Warburton's Desert, 

 in the country where the remains of the late Messrs. Wells and Jones were found, 

 and it may possibly account for the death of both Messrs. Wells' and Kudall's 

 camels. 



