Gastrolobium bilobum
R.Br. Heart-leaved PoisonErect shrub to 4 metres high; branchlets moderately to densely pubescent. Leaves in whorls of 3 or 4; margins flat or slightly recurved; stipules erect or slightly recurved, 2–6 mm long. Inflorescence a terminal raceme, sometimes terminal on short axillary shoots; pedicels 2–10 mm long; bracts caducous, scale-like, margins lacerate. Calyx 4–5 mm long, glabrous to sparsely pubescent, indumentum uniform in colour; standard 6–7 mm long including the 2–2.5 mm long claw, yellow or yellow-orange with a red ring surrounding the yellow centre; wings obovate, 6.5–9 mm long including the c. 2 mm long claws, yellow and orange; keel, base auriculate, 6.5–8.5 x c. 2 mm, saccate; ovary sessile or stipitate, style long, strongly incurved to slightly hooked; ovules 2. Pod ovoid; seeds ellipsoid. Oct-Nov. (Victorian collections).
Gold. Native to south-western WA.
Highly toxic, probably the most toxic of all species of Gastrolobium (Chandler et al. 2002).
Known from a few sites near Sandhurst Reservoir in the Bendigo area, where collected in 2018. Prior to an attempt at eradication, the largest incursion consisted of a few hundred plants. Recruitment from soil-stored seed is probable, and it is unlikely that the species has been fully eradicated.
Chandler, G.T.; Crisp, M.D.; Cayzer, L.W.; Bayer, R.J. (2002). Monograph of Gastrolobium (Fabaceae: Mirbelieae). Australian Systematic Botany 15(5): 619–739.
