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Prickly Poison

Gastrolobium spinosum

Also called Prickly Poisonbush

Prickly Poison
Photo: jeans_Photos, CC BY 2.0

Gastrolobium spinosum, prickly poison, is a spiny shrub from southwest Australia with yellow-to-orange pea flowers in spring. It is highly poisonous to livestock, so it should be handled with care wherever it is grown.

Family
Fabaceae (Pea & bean family)
Grows as
Shrub
Light
Full sun
Water
Water moderately while establishing, then allow the soil to dry between waterings; it tolerates dry conditions.
Soil
Free-draining, sandy or gritty soil; tolerates poor, acidic soils typical of its native range.
Temperature
Mild to warm climates, roughly 5-35 °C; protect from hard frost.
How easy
Moderate
Safety
Toxic: All parts contain fluoroacetate, a toxic compound, and are poisonous if eaten.
Native range
SW. Australia
Climate
subtropical

About

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

The species ranges from 0.3 to 3.5 metres in height. It has leaves with spiky, dentate margins and a long, tapering, pointed apex. The pea flowers are yellow to orange with a band of red surrounding the yellow centre, and a pink and maroon keel. These are produced from early spring to early summer (September to December in Australia).

Other Gastrolobium plants

Gastrolobium acrocaroli · Gastrolobium alternifolium · Heart Leaf Poisonbush · Gastrolobium brevipes · York Road Poison · Bacon And Eggs · Swan River Pea · Gastrolobium coriaceum · Gastrolobium formosum · Gastrolobium glabratum · Australian Poisonbush · Gastrolobium leakeanum

Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Gastrolobium spinosum by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts and the care summary drawn from them are shared under the same licence.

The care summary was written by AI (Claude, Anthropic) from the sources on this page, with general growing knowledge where they are silent. Check before relying on it.

Life form, climate and native range: World Checklist of Vascular Plants, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (CC BY 3.0), reformatted; see Plants of the World Online.

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