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Contributions to our Knowledge of the Poison Plants of Western 



Australia. 



By E. A. Mann, Government Analyst, and W. H. Ince, Ph.D., F.I.C. 



(Communicated by Professor J. Norman Collie, F.E.S.) 



(Abstract.)* 



The State of Western Australia has for many years had an unenviable 

 reputation by reason of the large numbers of indigenous plants which, by 

 their poisonous properties, have caused heavy losses amongst cattle and other 

 varieties of stock. At the present time these losses are estimated by the 

 Agricultural Department at about £15,000 to £20,000 per annum. 



Mr. Jas. Drummond, in 1842, was the first to make a comprehensive 

 report on these plants. Since then other references may be found from time 

 to time. In July, 1895, the West Australian Government Bureau of 

 Agriculture proposed to initiate a full enquiry into the properties of these 

 plants, and placed the matter in the hands of Mr. S. S. Dougall (Municipal 

 Chemist). 



Mr. Dougall's report is to be found in the ' Journal of the Department of 

 Agriculture of Western Australia,' December, 1900. He reports that every 

 effort to detect the presence of an alkaloid in the " York Eoad " and " Box " 

 poison plants had been unsuccessful. 



In 1899 the Western Australian Department of Agriculture sent specimens 

 of these plants, together with the " Heart Leaf," to Professor Balfour, at 

 Edinburgh, by whom they were forwarded to Professor Stockman, of the 

 University of Glasgow, for chemical examination. Professor Stockman 

 attributed the toxic principle to a substance belonging to the saponin series.f 



In 1902, samples of several of these plants were again sent to England by 

 the Department of Agriculture, and submitted to Professor Dunstan, F.K.S., 

 of the Imperial Institute, for examination. A report was received (1905) on 

 one only of the plants (the " Narrow Leaf "), in which Professor Dunstan 

 stated that, by extraction with alcohol, he obtained " a yellow crystalline 

 substance, probably identical with, or closely related to, quercitrin, the 

 glucoside found in the bark of Querctis tinctorial 



As far as the present authors are concerned, the chemical investigation was 



* The full paper was communicated in two parts : — 



Part I, dealing with Cygnine, was received February 14, 1906, and read February 22, 



1906. 

 Part II, dealing with Lobine, was received November 5, 1906, and read December 13, 



1906. 

 t ' Journal of the Department of Agriculture, Western Australia,' December, ] 900. 



