59 



usually concealing the stem, somewhat flattened or almost round, 

 the blade erect and spreading, linear or lancet-shaped, usually 

 three to four inches long, but sometimes twice that length, and 

 varying from t\vo to four lines in breadth ; llo\vers, in a loose 

 terminal forked cluster, usually leafy at the base, the branches very 

 spreading, the thin stalklets recurved, varying from a half to one 

 inch long ; flowers bine, often turning red in drying ; the segments 

 very acute, five-nerved, about a half inch long ; stamens very much 

 shorter ; filaments threadlike and twisted in the lower halt, with a 

 dense oblong tow-like tuft of hairs under the anther ; anther shorter 

 than the filament, almost spiral after shedding the pollen ; capsule 

 oblong, 3 to 4 lines long, seeds several in each cell, smooth, but not 

 shining. 



The Candynp poison, or blind grass, has been identified with 

 Stypiiiiilni planed, a liliaceous plant met with from King George's 

 Sound to the Swan and Murchison. It is herbaceous, and grows to 

 the height of one foot or more, on rocky and sandy lands, and 

 llowers between September and January. Though a native of the 

 eastern colonies, from Queensland to Victoria, the plant has not 

 been suspected there of possessing poisonous properties. Mr. 

 Maiden says of it " This plant is common in the neighborhood of 

 Sydney, the Blue Mountains, and many other parts of this colony, 

 but I have never heard of it having been reported as a poison plant 

 here." (Agricultural Gazette, N.S.W., 1894., v., 142). In Western 

 Australia, however, its evil reputation in that respect appears to 

 have been long established. The name of blind poison has been 

 given on account of the characteristic effect it produces on the 

 eyesight, causing the animal, according to Mr. Ash, as quoted by 

 Maiden, to go "apparently blind and run into any sort of object." 

 Mr. Ash adds that it seems to be the least fatal of all the poison 

 plants, and slower in taking effect. What its precise action is on 

 the eyes, or on the nervous system or other organs, appears to be as 

 ye! unknown. Mr. A. R. Richardson says '' It is very injurious to 

 horses and other stock, causing extreme paralysis, sometimes 

 blindness, and sometimes death." 



The absence of any reports from the other colonies of symptoms 

 of poisoning attributable to Stypaiuim glauca } coupled with the fact 

 that it is often found growing side by side with Agrostocrinum 

 stypiiiithvitics, a purely West Australian plant, suggests a doubt as to 

 which of these two is really possessed of the pernicious qualities 

 that occasion so marked an effect on the stock devouring it. Failing 

 lematic experiments on animals fed with the plant, or subjected 

 to the poisonous principle extracted from it by chemical means, the 

 aid of settlers would be of great service in clearing up the matter, 

 both as regards the identity of the plant causing the symptoms, and 

 the symptoms themselves, particularly the effect on the pupil of the 

 eye. A description is given below of Agrostocrinum slyptintlroidcs, 

 which is easily distinguished from the other on close inspection. 



