ABSTRACT
The therapeutic and toxic properties of the root of the birdlime thistle Atractylis gummifera have been reported as far back in history as about 300 B.C. when Theophrastus noted that this plant known then as “Chamaeleon” was lethal to animals. Throughout history the rhizomes of this thistle were recommended for treatment of a wide array of diseases including bubonic plague, drowsiness, melancholy, toothache, bleeding gingiva, intestinal parasites, ulcers, poisonous snakebite, and hydropsy, and have been associated with numerous accidental, fortuitous, or criminal poisonings. A plant, Callilepsis laureola, has been known to cause fatalities among the indigenous population of South Africa. AT was isolated and identified from dried, pulverized rhizomes. Wedelia aspérrima Benth, a member of the family Compositae, is responsible for fatalities among sheep in northwestern Queensland.
