> The cyanogenic glycosides in many plants including native or
> spotted fuchsia (Eremophila maculata) and native birdsfoot
> trefoil (Lotus australis) liberate cyanide when the plant
> tissue is damaged and kill insects, snails or slugs feeding on
> them. The same process may kill domestic animals as well.
>
> Crush some of that into a vegetable hot pot.
Who need cyanide when you've got chaos!
> Nervous system damage of a more severe kind in cattle enabled
> the rediscovery of a rare rainforest tree, Idiospermum
> australiense, in northern Queensland. Its seeds were found in
> the stomach contents of cattle which had died rapidly after
> feeding beneath the trees in 1971. The toxin responsible is
> unknown, but may be related to strychnine.
>
> Since there isn't a bit of Glorantha that's an Australian analogue,
> this is sort of irrelevant, but I wanted to speak up on behalf of the
> efficacy of plant toxins. I'm sure there are similar plants in the
> ecosystems that do have Gloranthan analogues.
This type of poisonous plant is just the sort of thing you'd expect in Aldryami forests. The native animals may be immune or know which not too eat, but when some cattle or sheep ranchers move in next door, boy are they going to get a shock when all their prize stock drops dead.
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