Gastrolobium bilobum

Last updated

Heart-leaved poison
Curtis's Botanical Magazine - Plate 2212 - Gastrolobium bilobum.jpg
An illustration from Curtis's Botanical Magazine (1818).
Scientific classification Red Pencil Icon.png
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Clade: Rosids
Order: Fabales
Family: Fabaceae
Subfamily: Faboideae
Genus: Gastrolobium
Species:
G. bilobum
Binomial name
Gastrolobium bilobum
Synonyms
  • Gastrolobium corymbosumTurcz.

Gastrolobium bilobum, commonly known as heart-leaved poison, is a bushy shrub which is endemic to south west Western Australia.

The species is a member of the family Fabaceae and is probably the most toxic species in the genus Gastrolobium , containing high levels of monofluoroacetic acid. [1] [2]

The species grows to a height of up to 4 metres. Between late winter and early summer (August to December in Australia) it produces yellow-orange pea-flowers with a central yellow area encircled by a band of red, and a maroon keel. The leaves are cuneiform, obovate or elliptic. [3]

The species was first formally described by botanist Robert Brown and published in Hortus Kew in 1811. [4]

In the nineteenth century as a plant within the group of gastrolobium, it was written about in the local press. [5] This continued into the early and mid twentieth century, due to the affects on agriculture. [6] [7] [8]

It has been further analyzed within the Australian Nucleotide and Protein sequencing. [9]

The vernacular name has been common for over 140 years, and is inappropriate due to the leaves being wedge shaped, not heart shaped as the name suggests.

It occurs in the south-west of the state, usually on granite-based soils on peaks and outcrops as well as along rivers. It is associated with karri and marri forest as well as mallee and heathland. [10] [11]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Porongurup National Park</span> Protected area in Western Australia

Porongurup National Park is a national park in the Great Southern region of Western Australia. It covers 26.21 square kilometres (10.12 sq mi), and is 360 kilometres (220 mi) southeast of Perth and 40 kilometres (25 mi) north of Albany.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sodium fluoroacetate</span> Chemical compound

Sodium fluoroacetate, also known as compound 1080, is an organofluorine chemical compound with the formula FCH2CO2Na. This colourless salt has a taste similar to that of sodium chloride and is used as a rodenticide.

<i>Gastrolobium</i> Genus of plants

Gastrolobium is a genus of flowering plants in the family Fabaceae. There are over 100 species in this genus, and all but two are native to the south west region of Western Australia.

<i>Gastrolobium melanopetalum</i> Species of legume

Gastrolobium melanopetalum is a shrub in the family Fabaceae which is endemic to the south-west of Western Australia.

<i>Gastrolobium praemorsum</i> Species of legume

Gastrolobium praemorsum is a scrambling shrub which is endemic to the south-west of Western Australia. It is a member of the family Fabaceae and produces red pea-flowers from late winter to early summer. It is not known whether this species shares the toxic properties of many other members of the genus Gastrolobium.

<i>Gastrolobium celsianum</i> Species of legume

Gastrolobium celsianum, the Swan River pea, is a low-growing shrub which is endemic to Western Australia.

<i>Gastrolobium sericeum</i> Species of legume

Gastrolobium sericeum is a flowering plant in the family Fabaceae. It is endemic to the south-west of Western Australia. It is a prostrate, low shrub with pendulous yellow, green, red or nearly black pea-flowers from spring to summer.

<i>Gastrolobium grandiflorum</i> Species of plant

Gastrolobium grandiflorum, commonly known as wallflower poison, wallflower poison bush or heart-leaf poison bush, is a bushy shrub which is endemic to Australia.

<i>Gastrolobium spinosum</i> Species of legume

Gastrolobium spinosum, also known as prickly poison, is a shrub in the family Fabaceae. It is endemic to Southwest Australia

Gastrolobium propinquum is a shrub in the family Fabaceae, endemic to the Southwest Australia savanna region, which is toxic to many animals. It has been given the common name Hutt River poison.

<i>Gastrolobium lehmannii</i> Species of legume

Gastrolobium lehmannii, the Cranbrook pea, is a vulnerable shrub in the family Fabaceae which is endemic to an area of Western Australia.

<i>Gastrolobium minus</i> Species of legume

Gastrolobium minus, also known as broad-leaved brachysema, is a prostrate shrub which is endemic to the south-west of Western Australia. It is a member of the family Fabaceae and of the genus Gastrolobium, which contains many toxic species, however the toxicity of this species is unknown.

<i>Gastrolobium coriaceum</i> Species of legume

Gastrolobium coriaceum is a shrub species in the family Fabaceae. It is endemic to the south west of Western Australia.

<i>Gastrolobium leakeanum</i> Species of legume

Gastrolobium leakeanum, commonly known as the mountain pea, is a plant in the pea family Fabaceae that is endemic to a small area in the south-west of Western Australia. It is an erect or sprawling shrub to about 2 m high, with red to orange or yellow flowers in spring.

<i>Gastrolobium formosum</i> Species of plant

Gastrolobium formosum is a small, trailing shrub, with red flowers, in the pea family (Fabaceae), which grows up to a metre high, on clays and loam in swamps and along river banks. The inflorescence consists of head of four unstalked flowers which is sheathed by a whorl of large bracts, with the flower petals being obscured by the lower calyx lobes. The standard petal is less than on third the keel petal. It is native to the south-west of Western Australia.

<i>Gastrolobium nervosum</i> Species of plant

Gastrolobium nervosum is a small shrub in the pea family (Fabaceae), native to Western Australia.

<i>Gastrolobium rigidum</i> Species of legume

Gastrolobium rigidum is a small bushy shrub in the pea family (Fabaceae), native to Western Australia.

<i>Gastrolobium villosum</i> Species of legume

Gastrolobium villosum is a low spreading shrub in the pea family (Fabaceae), native to Western Australia. Like most Gastrolobiums it is poisonous to stock.

Gompholobium gompholobioides is a species of flowering plant in the family Fabaceae and is endemic to the south-west of Western Australia. It is a spreading shrub with pinnate leaves and uniformly yellow, pea-like flowers.

<i>Mirbelia seorsifolia</i> Species of plant

Mirbelia seorsifolia is a species of flowering plant in the family Fabaceae and is endemic to the south-west of Western Australia. It is an erect, open shrub that typically grows to a height of 15–70 cm (5.9–27.6 in) and has yellow and red flowers from August to December. It grows on sandplains in the Avon Wheatbelt, Coolgardie, Great Victoria Desert, Murchison and Yalgoo bioregions of south-western Western Australia. The species was first formally described in 1876 by Ferdinand von Mueller, who gave it the name Gastrolobium seorsifolium in Fragmenta Phytographiae Australiae. In 1943, Charles Gardner changed the name to Mirbelia seorsifolia in Enumeratio Plantarum Australiae Occidentalis. The specific epithet (seorsifolia) means "separate leaves", referring to the well-spaced leaves. Mirbelia seorsifolia is listed as "not threatened" by the Government of Western Australia Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions.

References

  1. Gardner, C.A. and Bennetts, H.W. (1956) The Toxic Plants of Western Australia Perth, West Australian Newspapers. p. 76
  2. Chandler, G. T.; M.D. Crisp; L.W. Cayzer & R.J. Bayer (2002). "Monograph of Gastrolobium (Fabaceae: Mirbelieae)" (PDF). Australian Systematic Botany . 15 (5): 619–739. doi:10.1071/SB01010. page 639
  3. "Esperance Wildflowers: Gastrolobium bilobum - Heart Leaf Poison". 14 April 2014.
  4. http://www.anbg.gov.au/cpbr/cd-keys/peakey/key/The%20Pea%20Key/Media/Html/nomenclature/Gastrolobium_bilobum.htm. Archived 16 April 2016 at the Wayback Machine
  5. "THE GASTROLOBIUM OR POISON PLANT". The Perth Gazette and West Australian Times . Vol. 4, no. 29. Western Australia. 24 April 1868. p. 2. Retrieved 1 March 2017 via National Library of Australia.
  6. "POISON PLANTS". The Daily News. Vol. XLI, no. 14, 681. Western Australia. 1 April 1922. p. 8 (THIRD EDITION). Retrieved 2 March 2017 via National Library of Australia.
  7. "POISON PLANTS OF WESTERN AUSTRALIA". Pingelly-Brookton Leader . Vol. I, no. 12. Western Australia. 24 December 1925. p. 4. Retrieved 1 March 2017 via National Library of Australia.
  8. "A SERIOUS POISON". Western Mail. Vol. XLIV, no. 2, 273. Western Australia. 5 September 1929. p. 48. Retrieved 1 March 2017 via National Library of Australia.
  9. Australian Nucleotide (DNA/RNA) and Protein sequences from Australian organisms in the species Gastrolobium bilobum, QFAB, retrieved 1 March 2017
  10. Aplin, T.E.H. (1973), Poison plants of Western Australia : gastrolobium and oxylobium, Department of Agriculture, retrieved 1 March 2017
  11. Aplin, T. E. H.; Western Australia. Department of Agriculture (1968), Heart-leaf poison, river poison, Stirling Range poison, Western Australian Department of Agriculture], retrieved 1 March 2017