216 INDIGENOUS AUSTRALIAN FORAGE PLANTS. 



Oldfield G. calycinum is known as the " York Road Poison 

 bush." Found in Western Australia. 



These plants are dangerous to stock, and are hence called 

 "Poison-bushes." Large numbers of cattle are lost annually in 

 Western Australia through eating them. 



" The finest and strongest animals are the first victims : a 

 difficulty of breathing is perceptible for a few minutes, when they 

 stagger, drop down, and all is over with them. After the death 

 of the animal the stomach assumes a brown colour ; and is tenderer 

 than it ought to be ; but it appears to me that the poison enters 

 the circulation, and altogether stops the action of the lungs and 

 heart. * The raw flesh poisons cats, and the blood, which is darker 

 than usual, dogs ; but the roasted or boiled flesh is eaten by the 

 natives and some of the settlers without their appearing to suffer 

 any inconvenience." (Drummond, in Hooker's Journal of Botany.) 



" The blossoms are also frequently eaten by animals, and are, I 

 think, the most poisonous part, for the greatest number of sheep 

 are lost from the poisonous effect of this plant at the period of its 

 inflorescence. When the seeds fall on the ground, the wild pigeons 

 greedily feed and fatten on them ; if the crops of these pigeons, 

 containing the seeds, be eaten by dogs, they die, yet the pigeons 

 themselves when dressed, are good food, and at that season are 

 eaten in large numbers by the settlers. Horses, so far as is known 

 are not effected by it, at least this is the prevailing opinion, 

 although it is disputed by some of the settlers." (T. R. C. Walter, 

 in Pharm. Joum., vi.. 311.) 



With sheep who have eaten the herb the best treatment has 

 been found to be to fold them, or shut them up in a close yard, 

 so closely packed that they can hardly move, and to keep them 

 thus without food for thirty-six hours. See an interesting account 

 in Pharm. Joum., vi., 311. 



In the Flora Australiensis, a statement is quoted that G. 

 bilobum is the worst of the "Poison shrubs." Certainly some of 

 them render extensive tracts of country unoccupiable. 



51. Gastrolobium grandiflorum, F.v.M., B. Fl., ii., 103. N.O. 

 Leguminosse. " Wall-flower or Desert Poison-bush. Found 

 in Queensland and Northern Australia. 



With one exception, this is the only Gastrolobium out of 

 Western Australia, and it is the only Queensland one. Baron 

 Mueller identified this plant as having poisoned large numbers of 

 cattle and sheep on the Cape River, and at the sources of the 



* See also an interesting account of some physiological experiments to 

 ascertain the nature of the poison. Pharm. Joum., vi., 312. 



