The poison plant, of which specimens for my inspection were submitted by the Royal Society of Victoria, and which proved so detrimental to the herds and flocks in some places on the Cape River, and on the sources of the Burdekin and Flinders River,1 is botanically known as Gastrolobium grandiflorum. It is a leguminous bush, several feet high, with orange-yellow flowers, the latter imparting to it a very ornamental aspect. J. Macdouall Stuart, the famous explorer, brought the first specimens from Attack Creek, south of Arnhem's Land,2 and from these the species was established in the Fragmenta Phytographiae Australiae, iii. 17.3 It is much to be feared;4 that this plant has a wide range through the interior of tropical Australia (though it was not met with on the route of the expedition to which I was attached),5 and not unlikely Leichhardt had to encounter it during his last expedition. The occupants of territory in which the plant occurs may now, however, guard to some extent against this vegetable bane, since the plant has become widely known, nor is it unlikely that by setting fire repeatedly to the vegetation of the scrubby ridges on which it grows, that it may be extirpated. Gastrolobium grandiflorum is the only species of the genus as yet found beyond south-west Australia, where several congeners (for instance, G. bilobum, G. calycinum, G. callistachys, G. oxylobioides), on account of their poisonous properties, render extensive tracts of the country unoccupiable. I shall have a future occasion to enter on detailed statements of the effects of the Gastrolobia on the animal frame, and give also the results of the chemical analysis of these plants.6 Expositions of the highly deleterious effects of the Swainsona Greyana, which as a pasture herb on the Darling flats, frequently causes the death of horses during dry seasons, when other herbage fails, as well as an explanation of the deadly effect of the Lotus Australis, causing, when grown and depastured in certain localities, sheep to perish within half an hour, may, as referring likewise to leguminous plants, then come simultaneously within the bounds of my elucidation.7
Gastrolobium bilobum
Gastrolobium callistachys
Gastrolobium calycinum
Gastrolobium grandiflorum
Gastrolobium oxylobioides
Lotus Australis
Swainsona Greyana
All three rivers in Qld.
NT.
B62.04.01, p. 17.
Punctuation as in source.
North Australian Exploring Expedition, 1855-6.
Analysis not found. In M to F Barlee, 28 October 1867, M reported that he had not done the toxicology but hoped to do so when his health improved. An analysis was, however, undertaken of specimens that M sent to George Wittstein in Munich, published as H. Fraas (1866), included with M to F. Barlee, 20 March 1868 (see B68.04.04) where M also reported that he had undertaken studies in which he had fed dried samples of the plant to sheep, without injurious effects. He postulated a number of reasons why his results seemed to contradict graziers' experience.
In response to this letter being read, 'The President suggested that it would be of much service if Dr. Mueller would furnish specimens of each plant, which could be so placed under glass for reference and inspection, and render members familiar with these dangerous plants' (Proceedings, &c, Ordinary Meeting of 18 July 1864, Transactions and proceedings of the Royal Society of Victoria, vol. 6 (1865), p. l).
Letter not found. For the text given here, see 'Notes on Gastrolobium grandiflorum' (B65.05.02), read by the Secretary to the Royal Society of Victoria on 18 July 1864. The letter is dated to July as the latest date that it could have been written to have been read at this meeting; the previous meeting was held on 27 June 1864.
Please cite as “FVM-64-07-00b,” in Correspondence of Ferdinand von Mueller, edited by R.W. Home, Thomas A. Darragh, A.M. Lucas, Sara Maroske, D.M. Sinkora†, J.H. Voigt† and Monika Wells accessed on