Chemistry: Assessment Task 1

Depth Study – Equilibrium Systems

Part 3: Investigate the use of Solubility Equilibria by Aboriginal and Torres
Strait Islander Peoples when Removing Toxicity from Foods, for example
toxins in Cycad Fruit
By Rylee Muir
Introduction
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples have a strong connection with the land and the
environment around them. An extensive knowledge of plants and their uses, including what
plants were poisonous, was established by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples along
with how to eliminate toxins from particular plants. As Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander
Peoples have a multitude of applications for plants, such as food resources, hunting equipment,
and medical treatments, they developed ways to make sure all their resources were not harmful
when used, thus they established ways to detoxify food. This could be done through the process
of leaching which uses the principles of solubility equilibria to extract the poisonous
components from plants and make them edible. Through this knowledge and these practices,
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples were able to increase their available food sources
and thrive off the environmental resources.

Why do some plants contain poisonous components?

Plants may contain highly developed poisonous components for a wide variety of reasons. The
poisonous component is known as secondary metabolites, or compounds, and they are a non-
essential part of the bio-chemistry of plants. The poisonous component may be a waste
products, storage products, flower pigments, and growth inhibitors (Australian Native
Poisonous Plants, 1997). Plants have various ways of being poisonous as well, such as
neurotoxins and cytotoxins. Neurotoxins impact the nervous system through the neuron ion
channels, thus affecting how signals are transported around the body. Whilst Cytotoxins impact
cellular functions. Toxins are classified by the phytochemicals produced, such as alkaloids and
glycosides. Plants can be poisonous as a means of defence against animals, microorganisms,
and other competing plants or to attract insect pollinators or due to their stationary position
(Wink, 2010), as there is no immune system to fight off microorganisms. The plant Acacia
Aulacocarpa, found primarily in Northern Australia, has been tested under an investigation into
native plants antibacterial activity. It was revealed that the leaves contained a poison that
inhibited the growth of A. hydrophilia, P. fluorescens, and B. cereus bacteria (Cock, 2008).
The toxic component in the plant is hydrogen cyanide, and in drought, higher concentrations
are produced, thus in Australia high concentrations are more likely to be present (Furn, 2020).
Cestrum parqui, or green cestrum, is a cultivated garden plant frequently grown in Eastern
Australia. It is poisonous to ruminants, horses, pigs, and poultry with the toxic principle being
diterpenoid, glycosides parquin and caboxyparquin which causes liver failure and may cause
death in severe cases (Brownie, 2015). Allelopathy is a process of survival within plants (Plants
defend their territory with toxic substances, 2015). Allelochemicals released into the
environment by the plant can inhibit the growth of competing plants so that one species may
thrive, thus reducing competition through germination (Tilley, n.d.). Sambucus Australasica is
a species of the Sambucus plant native to Eastern Australia, which is poisonous to not only
plants but to humans and animals as well. The toxic component of the plant is cyanide-inducing
glycosides and it is present in the stems, seeds, leaves, and roots of the plant. The plant releases
quantities of cyanide into the environment which impairs the growth of competing plants, and
poisons animals who eat it (Are Elderberry Bushes Poisonous?, n.d.). The utilisation of a toxic
stench is used to attract or drive insect pollinators. A toxic stench drives insects away from
male cones, or to lure insects into female cones with a differing scent (Cycad - an overview |
ScienceDirect Topics, n.d.). Cycads use a combination of heat and a toxic smell to allure insect
pollinators to the female reproductive sections of the plant in order for pollination to occur
(Pollination, 2018), with the toxic smell originating from the toxin methylazoxymethanol
(Cycad - an overview | ScienceDirect Topics, n.d.). Thus, plants may be toxic for a wide variety
of reasons, such as for defence against humans, animals, microorganisms, and other competing
plants, or to appeal to insect pollinators.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples plant use

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples had a wide variety of uses for plants, such as for
food, hunting purposes, medicinal purposes and tools. (Aboriginal Plant Use, 2016).
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander groups had different purposes for different parts of plants,
such as using one part for food and another for medicine. Many different plants were used for
medicinal and food purposes, and often both. Plants provide a natural treatment to some
wounds and illnesses that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples utilised. The native
Australian plant Kangaroo Apple was used by various groups throughout Victoria for
medicinal purposes as it is a natural anti-inflammatory and an antioxidant (Gott, 2018).
Kangaroo Apple was also used as a source of medicine because the steroidal alkaloid
solasodine can be used as a means of female contraceptive. Women made tea, boiling the unripe
fruit and it would lead to the decreased production of follicle-stimulating hormone and follicle
development is inhibited (Hall, 2020). The inner wood was combined with breast milk and
used as an eyewash treatment for conjunctivitis, unripe fruit treated burns, scratches and rashes
whilst the flesh of the seed could be eaten directly or can be used to produce dye for woven
objects (Williams and Sides, 2008). The Wotjobaluk people used Centipeda Cunninghamii (De
Angelis, 2020) as a treatment for cold and chest pain, or as a restorative. It was used by being
rubbed on the skin around the affected area after being boiled or soaked in hot water. The plant
can be found in all states of Australia however, it is rare and mainly found in areas flood-prone
(The Plants of Milarri Garden, n.d.). Plants also provided Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander
Peoples with a wide variety of food resources, often creating different meals from plants, or
just eating one section, such as fruit. The Dhauwurd Wurrung Peoples referred to the Kangaroo
Apple as ‘Bullibulli’ and they frequently used it as a food source as they could be eaten fresh,
cooked or raw. (Kangaroo Apple, n.d.). The Wiradjuir people of Australia hand many uses for
a wide variety of plants. Lissanthe Strigosa, or Peach Heath, was used as a food source for
many Wiradjuri Peoples, and it was a means of hunting the small birds that were attracted to
the fruit. Persoonia Curvifolia, or Gee Bung was also used for food and medicinal purposes.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples also used plants for practical purposes. They
could be fashioned into spears for hunting or knives for skinning animals, or they could be
weaved into baskets used for storage, or even for jewellery. The Messmate plant, otherwise
known as Eucalyptus Obliqua was used by many groups of Aboriginal Peoples. The Woi
Wurrung people knew it as Wangnarra, the Gunai Kurnia people referred to it as Katakatak
and the Tungurung people called it Taungurung. It was primarily used to start fires, and the
bark could be ground into a small powder which acted as tinder for fires. The bark could also
be used to make string for bags and nets in the process of weaving (The Plants of Milarri
Garden, n.d.). Victorian Christmas Bush, located in damp conditions, was used by the Woi
Wurrung group and the Tungurung group frequently as it made for quick fired starts and it was
used as a drill piece, paired with other plants including Xanthorrhoea Australis to be used
effectively. Flax Lily, a small flowering plant, was known as Murmbal by the Wergaia people
and it was used as string in basket weaving (The Plants of Milarri Garden, n.d.). Phragmites
Australis, a plant used by Wemba Wemba Peoples and Gunai Kurnai Peoples has multiple
purposes. It could be used to make spears out of the long shaft or woven into baskets with the
leaves. Stems could be crated into jewellery such as necklaces and neck ornaments as well. In
particular, all throughout the Gippsland, it was made into a knife used for skinning animals, or
the roots were used as a food source (The Plants of Milarri Garden, n.d.). Thus, Aboriginal and
Torres Strait Islander Peoples all across Australia had many different uses for plants, such as
for food, medicinal purposes, hunting and tools.
How Solubility Equilibria was used to treat Macrozamia Spp – Cycads
Equilibria is used to describe the conditions of a reversible reaction, and a balance of equal
forward and reverse reaction rates. It occurs when the reaction rates are equal and occurring
simultaneously, in a closed system with no macroscopic change and no change to the
concentration of products or reactants. (Chemical equilibrium, 2016). Solubility equilibria
describes the process of solids dissolving in a solvent, to be separated into the particles that
they are made of (Equilibrium: Solubility, n.d.). Equilibrium is achieved when the solvent has
been saturated by the solute, meaning nothing else can be dissolved unless it is supersaturated.
At this point, equilibrium is achieved where particles are constantly being dissolved and
reformed into solids.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples frequently consumed the poisonous plant
Macrozamia Spp, which is commonly known as the Cycad. As the food was highly abundant
and had nutritional value such as beneficial carbohydrate content, Aboriginal and Torres Strait
Islander Peoples established ways to detoxify the plant (Australia's Tropical Rainforests World
Heritage Fact Sheet - Bush Tucker, n.d.). It is found in sclerophyll forests and coastal areas,
and is an evergreen plant that can grow to 2 metres tall and wide, however it generally grows
at a slow rate (Macrozamia spp. Burrawang, Cycads PFAF Plant Database, n.d.). Aboriginal
and Torres Strait Islander Peoples often used the plant as a common food source despite the
poisonous components of macrozamin and cycasin (Monroe, n.d.). Despite lacking an
advanced knowledge of the subject of solubility equilibria, Aboriginal and Torres Strait
Islander Peoples still utilised the concept to detoxify the plant. Cycasin and macrozamin are
carcinogenic and mutagens that can cause headaches, seizures and vomiting if ingested, along
with liver failure and other life threatening symptoms (Castillo-Guevara and Rico-Gray, 2003).
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples had many food processing methods to detoxify
and prepare, however the leaching method used solubility properties and was frequently used
with Cycads. It involved cutting the sarcotesta seed of the cycad open, to increase the surface
area, then crushing and submerging it in water. It was left for days so that the toxic components
of cycasin and macrozamin could be leached out. However, if needed promptly, Aboriginal
and Torres Strait Islander Peoples would cook the sarcotesta seed to break up some of the toxic
molecules and reduce the time needed for the leaching process to be fully complete. (HSC
Chemistry - Module 5 - Inquiry Question 4, n.d.). Cycasin and macrozamin is dissolved as
water molecules attach to the components of cycasin and macrozamin to separate them into
their ions. This process is summarised by the reactions Cycasin(s) + Water(l) ⇌ Cycasin(aq)
(C8H16N2O7(s) + H2O(l) ⇌ C8H16N2O7(aq)) and Macrozamin(S) + Water(l) ⇌
C13H24N2O11(aq) . This is a continuous process where the forward reaction is favoured due
to the inability to reach equilibrium as the system is open. Thus, the cycasin and macrozamin
are continually dissolved into the water (Audhali and Stevenson, n.d.). The process of leaching
was performed because without treatment, ingesting cycads would eventually lead to liver
decomposition, cancer, paralysis and hepatoxicity. Thus, solubility equilibria was used to
detoxify Cycads and make them safe to eat. As the system is open, it enabled a constant
leaching process, the forward reaction was favoured until no more cycasin and macrozamin
could be dissolved by the water and extracted from the cycad.

Conclusion
Solubility equilibria was used by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples to detoxify
foods such as the Cycad. Through the process of leaching, Cycads were detoxified by being
submerged in water. The principles of solubility equilibria were utilised, as this enabled for the
favouring of the forward reaction to be favoured as it is not done in a closed system, thus the
reaction is constantly moving to have a balance of cycasin and macromazin on both sides of
the reaction. As cycasin and macrozamin are dissolved into water, the reaction proceeds until
the system reaches equilibria however, being an open system, it will proceed until the fruit is
safe to consume. Along with Cycads, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples utilised the
natural environment for food sources, instruments and tools in hunting, and medicinal
purposes. This meant an extensive knowledge of plants was established, including what plants
were poisonous and which treatment strategies, such as leaching, were best to detoxify the
plant. Through their understanding and connection to the natural environment, Aboriginal and
Torres Strait Islander Peoples were able to thrive off natural resources.
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