SCROPHULARINEZ. ; 49 
brittle to have any other use. The plant has no value as fodder and is in 
fact injurious to stock if fed to them, even when mixed with other food. A 
fibre can be obtained from the stem, but it is too difficult to clean for 
its preparation to be profitable. The milky juice is feebly poisonous 
when taken in quantity and brings on sickness. The leaves are sometimes 
used as a substitute for Senna, and the plant is the Arghel of Syria. It 
is easily suppressed by cultivation or by cutting to prevent seeding on 
pasture land. (The seed appear to have only a limited duration in the 
soil, and so far the plant does not seem likely to become a serious pest. 
The hair-bearing seeds are carried long distances by the wind. 
GB Sarcostemma australe, R. Br. The Caustic Vine or Bush. This 
plant reaches the warmer parts of Victoria and is generally considered to 
be highly poisonous to stock when taken in large quantities. They only 
touch it when starved, and may then become accustomed to eat large 
amounts for some time without suffering to any extent. The young 
shoots of several exotic species are edible, and it is possible that the poison- 
ous properties of our native species have in many cases been exaggerated. 
ScROPHULARINEZ (FoxcLove Famity). 
The superior ovary is two chambered and the stamens two or four in 
number, a fifth stamen often represented by a staminode. 
A fairly large order useless for fodder, and containing hardly any 
edible species. | Many are poisonous, others are bitter or act as emetics 
or purges. A few of the order are parasitic on the roots of grasses and 
hence do serious harm to pastures. 
Bartsia latifolia, Sibth. This naturalized annual has proved to be a 
pest! in some places. It seeds freely and the seeds may remain living in 
the soil for a few years, coming up in abundance in favourable seasons. 
The plant seems able to develop without being parasitic on grass roots, 
but rcvertheless its presence does not improve either pasture or fodder. 
Two ciher species have appeared. 
B. viscosa, L., and B. Trixago, L. All three are often sent in as sus- 
pected poison plants, but they do not appear to be actively poisonous. 
If eaten in excess, however, they cannot fail to exercise a more or less 
injurious physical or even chemical action, and in any case their presence 
deteriorates a pasture. Like many annuals they are sporadic, being more 
abundant in some seasons, than in others. Mowing to prevent seeding, 
resting the pasture in spring, loosening and manuring the soil all aid in 
keeping them down. Cultivation soon suppresses them. 
KGS” Digitalis purpurea, L. Foxglove. A garden escape sometimes 
appearing as a weed, but not abundant. It is strongly poisonous, but stock 
apparently do not touch it on account of its bitter taste. In England, the 
plant is common on the edges of pastures without any evil results appearing 
to ensue. The plant is a biennial, and hence is best suppressed by hoeing 
up the root-stock before flowering. 
Linaria Elatine, Desf. Toadflax. A native of Europe and Asia. One 
of the more recent introductions, which though only an annual may become 
troublesome if allowed to spread. It has a strong bitter taste and is useless 
as a fodder plant. It is easily suppressed by cultivation and the preven- 
tion of seeding. 
Gratiola.—Three species are native to Victoria, and all appear to have 
a purgative action capable of producing serious consequences when the 
plant is eaten in quantity. G. peruviana, L. appears to be the commonest 
form, but no exact experiments have been performed, and no active principle 
has been extracted and tested. 
