The Chemistry and the Chemical Exploitation of Western 
Australian Plants. 
1)5 
rum L. (32) and S. sodomaeum L. (65) are all recorded as containing sola- 
sonine or “solanine” and, in addition, S. nigrum is said to contain a tropine 
alkaloid which possesses mydriatic properties. S. Sturtianum F. Muell. is 
also recorded (21) as being markedly toxic to sheep and pro'bably contain- 
ing “solanine”. 
The order Leguminosae is very well represented in the Western Aus- 
tralian flora and, in the world as a whole, it provides more substances of 
medicinal importance than any other order. In the family Papilionaceae, 
Crotalaria retusa L. has been >hown (66) to contain the alkaloid mono- 
(Totaline. This is of considerable interest because it establishes a relation- 
ship with the seneeio alkaloids, since on boiling with barium hydroxide 
solution it gives retronecine as one of its decomposition products. C. dissi- 
iifiora Benth. has been found by Finnemore to contain an alkaloid and C. 
Mitch elU Benth., which is suspected of being poisonous, might well contain 
alkaloids. Indigo]' eta boriperda A. Morrison has been proved toxic to cattle 
in Northern Australia and is suspected of containing alkaloids (67) ; I. aus- 
tralis has also been recorded as a stock poison. 
The presence of alkaloids in the genera Gastrolobimn and Oxylobium , 
which include perhaps the most toxic of Western Australian plants, was 
indicated by the work of Mann and luce (68) who described the isolation 
of cygnine and lobine respectively from G. caiycinum Benth. and 0. parvi- 
jforum Benth. This has not been confirmed by other workers, but it has 
very recently received support to some extent by the demonstration by Dr. 
D. E. White of the presence of alkaloids in 0. graniticum S. Moore. The 
solution of the problem has been simplified by I)r. H. AY. Bennetts (69) who 
has demonstrated that all the toxic members of the two genera produce 
the same series of symptoms provided the dose is modified according to 
the general toxicity of each individual plant. Further general information 
on these species is contained in references (69) to (73) inclusive. 
Introduced plants in the family Papilionaceae include Cytisns prolifer 
L. and Ulex europaeus L., both of which contain cytisine, while among the 
Lupini, Lupinus angustifolius L. contains d-lupanine and L. lutens L. con- 
tains lupinine and sparteine as well as a glucoside. L. hirsufus E. is con- 
sidered toxic in South Africa and is probably alkaloidal in nature. 
The family Caesalpiniaceae is also known to contain alkaloids. Erythro- 
phleum chlorostachys (F. Muell.) Hennings ex Taub., one of the so-called 
camel poisons, is exceedingly poisonous to most stock. Petrie and Priestly 
(74) have shown the absence of saponins and cyanogenetic glycosides in the 
plant and have isolated an alkaloid from it which has identical chemical and 
physiological properties to erythrophleine. Caesdlpinia Bonducella (L.) 
Fleming is recorded (32) as containing an alkaloid in its seed and, in addi- 
tion, it contains a bitter principle, bonducin, which is stated to be as effec- 
tive as quinine in treatment of malaria. 
The family Compositae is the largest in the plant kingdom and a num- 
ber of its members contain alkaloids. Within recent years much work has 
been done, particularly in South Africa and Canada, on the alkaloids of the 
genus Seneeio. This work has been reviewed bv Waal (75), while more 
recent work has been published by the same author (76) and by Richardson 
and Warren (77). The introduced S. vulgaris L. contains senecionine and 
senecine and is known to produce the typical symptoms of seneeio poison- 
ing, including cirrhosis of the liver. S. lautus Soiand. is stated by Bennetts 
