Fabaceae tribe Bossiaeeae

Goodia

 

Goodia Salisb. 1806

2 spp.; Australia, widespread in the S and E (south-west W Australia to SE Queensland, but with disjunctions in S and W Australia, and in N Tasmania)

Named for Peter Good (? -1803), horticulturist and botanical collector who accompanied Robert Brown to Australia on board H.M.S. Investigator and died in Sydney in 1803

Shrubs; subtropical, mediterranean and temperate forest, woodland, bushland and thicket and shrubland

Reference(s): Stanley & Ross (1983: 272); Elliot & Jones (1986, 4: 410 - 412); Weber (1986: 691 - 692); Ross in Walsh & Entwisle (1996: 819 - 821); Ross (1997); James in Harden (2002: 509 - 510)

Distinguished from other genera in the Bossiaeeae by the pinnately trifoliolate leaves. Phylogenetically the sister group to the other genera in the Bossiaeeae, but divergent from them in both morphology and DNA sequences

Goodia lotifolia Salisb. is suspected of causing death in cattle. Hydrogen cyanide is the active compound, apparently in the form of unstable cyanhydrin (Everist, 1981); this species is also cultivated as an ornamental

© J. H. Ross

Goodia lotifolia

Link to another photo of Goodia lotifolia

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