Duboisia

Life-forms

Classification System: APG IV

Superregnum: Eukaryota
Regnum: Plantae
Cladus: Angiosperms
Cladus: Eudicots
Cladus: Core eudicots
Cladus: Asterids
Cladus: Lamiids
Ordo: Solanales

Familia: Solanaceae
Subfamilia: Nicotianoideae
Tribus: Anthocercideae
Genus: Duboisia
Species: D. arenitensis – D. hopwoodii – D. leichhardtii – D. myoporoides
Name

Duboisia R.Br., Prodr. Fl. Nov. Holland. 448. 1810

Type species: Duboisia myoporoides R.Br.

References
Primary references

Brown, R. 1810. Prodromus Florae Novae Hollandiae et Insulae Van Diemen. pp. i–viii + 145–590, Londini: R.Taylor. BHL Reference page. : 448

Links

Hassler, M. 2019. Duboisia. World Plants: Synonymic Checklists of the Vascular Plants of the World In: Roskovh, Y., Abucay, L., Orrell, T., Nicolson, D., Bailly, N., Kirk, P., Bourgoin, T., DeWalt, R.E., Decock, W., De Wever, A., Nieukerken, E. van, Zarucchi, J. & Penev, L., eds. 2019. Species 2000 & ITIS Catalogue of Life. Published on the internet. Accessed: 2019 Mar. 10. Reference page.
International Plant Names Index. 2019. Duboisia. Published online. Accessed: Mar. 10 2019.
Govaerts, R. et al. 2019. Duboisia in Kew Science Plants of the World online. The Board of Trustees of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Published on the internet. Accessed: 2019 Mar. 10. Reference page.
Tropicos.org 2019. Duboisia. Missouri Botanical Garden. Published on the internet. Accessed: 2019 Mar. 10.

Duboisia (commonly called corkwood tree) is a genus of small perennial shrubs and trees up to 14 metres (46 feet) tall, with extremely light wood and a thick corky bark. There are four species; all occur in Australia, and one also occurs in New Caledonia.

The alternate, glabrous leaves are narrow and elliptical. The inflorescence is an open cymose panicle of apically small white flowers, sometimes with a purple or mauve striped tube. They flower profusely in spring. The fruit is a small, globular, black, juicy berry.

Aboriginal Australians sometimes chew the nicotine-containing leaves of Duboisia hopwoodii (see entry on pituri) mixed with wood ash for their stimulant and, after extended use, depressant effects. The leaves of Duboisia leichhardtii and Duboisia myoporoides also contain scopolamine and hyoscyamine, along with some other pharmaceutically important alkaloids. A derivative of scopolamine is the drug butylscopolamine, a potent peripherally acting antispasmodic. These trees are commercially grown for the pharmaceutical industry.

The genus was named by Robert Brown in honour of Louis DuBois who wrote Méthode éprouvée, avec laquelle on peut parvenir facilement et sans maître à connaître les plantes de l'intérieur de la France et en particulier celles des environs d'Orléans, par M. Dubois, théologal de l'église d'Orléans, ancien démonstrateur du Jardin des plantes (1803).[1]
References

Don, George (1838). A general history of the dichlamydeous plants, comprising complete descriptions of the different orders. Volume IV. Corolliflorae. London. p. 479.