466 QUFENSLAND AGRICULTURAL JOURNAL. [1 June, 1899. 
PLANTS REPUTED POISONOUS TO STOCK. 
NATIVE TOBACCO. 
Amonest the native plants of Australia known to be poisonous to stock, one 
gaid to be the most noxious is the Native Tobacco, found growing in one form 
or another over the whole of the Australian Continent. It belongs to the order 
Solanacex, and its botanical name is \icotiana suaveolens, Lehm., Hist. Nicol. 
43, Flora Austr. 1V. 469. 
It is an erect annual or biennial plant from 1 to 4 feet in height, and is 
usually covered with viscid hairs. The lower leaves are the largest, often 
reaching to 1 foot in length, the upper ones being, as shown in our illustration, 
narrower and usually stalkless, sometimes clasping the stem with their base. In 
one variety (parviflora) only about 1 inch long, and not spreading much at the 
mouth; in another variety (longiflora), usually met with inland, the flowers are 
several inches long, and expand into an open flower like a petunia, or Marvel of 
Peru. Capsule ovate, slightly pointed, and full of small seeds. 
There is a general consensus of opinion amongst stockowners that this 
plant is poisonous to stock. It is credited with causing the deaths of many 
travelling sheep. Mr. Hutchison instances a case which came under his notice 
of 300 rams being poisoned by it. The effects upon sheep are—drooping head, 
dull eye, swollen tongue, and, a few hours before death, paralysis of the loins. 
Dr. T. L. Bancroft, in a note communicated to the Royal Society of 
Queensland, in January, 1886, has shown that this plant is undoubtedly 
poisonous, and this is due to the presence in it of an alkaloid having all the 
physiological properties of the nicotine of the true tobacco plant. 
The above description of the plant, and the illustration, are from the publi- 
cation on ‘Plants Reputed Poisonous and Injurious to Stock,” by Messrs. F. M. 
Bailey, Government Botanist, and P. R. Gordon, Chief Inspector of Stock. 
A remarkable circumstance connected with this and some other reputed 
poisonous plants is that, whilst in one part of a district it is declared to be 
deadly to stock, in another, at no great distance, it is looked upon as an 
excellent fodder. 
The late Mr. Jacob Low, who was undoubtedly a first-class judge of fodder 
lants suitable for sheep, stated that the Native Tobacco was splendid sheep 
eed, and the animals grazing on it became rolling fat. Yet we are told by 
another good authority that hundreds of sheep have died from its effects, whilst 
a scientific man like Dr. Bancroft also gives testimony to its deadly qualities. 
The question arises, ‘“ What can one believe when such conflicting evidence is 
iven by men who ought to know what they are talking about?” It would 
seem that the only plan by which certainty on such points can be attained 
would be to make practical experiments, by growing the plants and offering 
some sheep as a sacrifice in the general public interests. 
We have lately been informed that all wattle-trees possess very poisonous 
qualities. Who would believe that a wattle-tree could be poisonous? “ Yet 
there is not the slightest doubt” says Dr. Lauterer, in a paper read before the 
Royal Society of Queensland, “ that the Black Wattle (Acacia Cunninghamit), 
although quite innocent when it blossoms and after it has borne fruit, containg 
a large amount of saponin in the unripe pods, and a small amount of it even in 
the leaves and in all green parts of the plant. Saponin has been found in 
Acacias as far back as 1871. 
“In 1886 Dr. T. L. Bancroft, in a serub on the Gregory River, by 
accidentally biting the pod of <Acacia delrbrata, found that it had a very 
disagreeable, acrid taste. It seemed so strange that an Acacia should have any 
but an astringent taste that a quantity of the pods were gathered with a view to 
ascertain if they contained a physiologically active substance. The result of 
Dr. T. L. Bancroft’s investigation was the discovery of saponin in the pods 
of Acacia delibrata. 
“After Dr. Bancroft, Mr. M. Thiel, in 1889, drew attention to the occurrence 
of a variety of saponin (called moussenin) in the bark of the Abyssinian Acacia 
