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84.06.00b

Plant names

Preferred Citation:

Ferdinand von Mueller to Charles Bage, 1884-06 [84.06.00b]. R.W. Home, Thomas A. Darragh, A.M. Lucas, Sara Maroske, D.M. Sinkora, J.H. Voigt and Monika Wells (eds), Correspondence of Ferdinand von Mueller, <https://vmcp.rbg.vic.gov.au/id//letters/1880-9/1884/84-06-00b-final.odt>, accessed June 4, 2026

1
Letter not found. The text given here is from Bage (1884), pp. 299-300 (B84.07.01). The letter is introduced by 'Shortly after the above case occurred, I showed my notes of it to Baron von Mueller, and he very kindly sent me an interesting letter on the subject, which I quote at length'.
The Solanum pseudo-capsicum , of which you forwarded some fruiting branchlets, is regarded as a native of Madeira, but it may be originally a South American plant; it became naturalized in various of the warmer regions of the globe, and it is likely to spread also gradually through Australia in spontaneous growth, as the seeds from scattered berries would readily germinate wherever carried casually about. It is therefore important that some warning of the deleterious properties of this plant should be given after you establish the poisonous effect of the berries, particularly so, as the bright colour of the latter would be enticing to children.
I can find no actual literary record of poison cases from this shrub, although the fruits of most species of the very large genus Solanum must be looked on with suspicion, while those of their numerous congeners are really known to be hurtful. The few kinds which can be eaten with impunity, at least in moderate quantity, I have mentioned in my volume on "Select Plants for Industrial Culture," Sydney edition, p. 319-321.
2
B81.01.04.
Curiously enough, Dr. Rosenthal, in his " Synopsis Plantarum Diaphoricarum ," p. 462,
3
Rosenthal (1862).
enumerates Solanum pseudo-capsicum among the plants yielding edible berries. This discrepancy from your observation can be reconciled by the fact that a very small quantity of the fruit, when eaten, may not cause any marked ill-consequences, whereas a larger lot taken might produce even lethal effect. Thus our own
Solanum aviculare

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, the "Kangaroo-apple" of the colonists, received its specific name because the surgeons of Captain Cook's second expedition noticed birds in New Zealand devouring the berries; but in the menagerie of the Botanic Garden of Melbourne, many years ago, a big monkey died who had been eating a large quantity of the berries, as I found when searching for the cause of the death of the animal.The main poisonous principle of various Solanum species is solanin. Whether any other alkaloids exist in some of the Solana remains to be ascertained, as the chemical constituents in the several hundred species of this genus may be different, that of Solanum pseudo-capsicum having never yet been fixed by analysis. As you justly observe the effect of the pulp of the Solanum berry may be less harmful than that of the seeds; but on this point no careful observations are extant, so far as I am aware. Spasmodic affections, particularly of the voluntary muscles, are observed to be caused also by other solanaceous plants; thus jerking and convulsions are produced by the action, in advanced stages, of
Belladonna

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, Stramonium,
Hyoscyamus

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and even
Dulcamara

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. The dilatation of pupils, noticed in your case, is also in accord with the effect of various other
Solanaceae

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. Under these circumstances there can be no doubt that the poison case recorded by you arose really from the particular Solanum under notice, and I can therefore much encourage you to give publicity to this case.