Dichapetalum cymosum, commonly known as gifblaar from Afrikaans, or occasionally by its English translation, poison leaf, is a small prostrate shrub occurring in northern parts of Southern Africa in the family Dichapetalaceae.

Fluoroacetate, the poison used to synthetically produce Compound 1080 used extensively in New Zealand, occurs in all parts of the plant and is responsible for the toxic effects shown.

[2] Toxic effects include vomiting, seizures, and an irregular heartbeat, and death can occur in as little as a few hours.

It can easily kill small mammals such as rats, earning it the name "ratbane"; it was banned for commercial use in the United States in 1972 by the Environmental Protection Agency.

[3] Dichapetalum cymosum was first recognised as toxic by the early Voortrekkers entering the Transvaal, who were probably alerted to its lethality by natives living in the region.

The most obvious above ground parts are the leaves - simple, alternate with initially fine hairs later becoming glabrous.

O. pulchra leaves have secondary veins that are not looped and reach the margin, and the margin itself is dentate not smooth.Gifblaar occurs in dry, sandy areas in acidic soils, as well as the northern slopes of rocky hills in the southern parts of the African savannah biome.

In South Africa, the distribution is within the so-called 'gifblaar triangle', the points of which are Mmabatho; Middelburg, Mpumalanga; and Musina.

These are the trees Burkea africana, Terminalia sericea, and Ochna pulchra, and also the shrub Parinari capensis.

The compound itself is not toxic but undergoes lethal synthesis in the body while reacting with coenzyme A, yielding fluoroacetyl-Coenzyme A.

In rare cases, an animal will survive the initial period only to drop dead months later of heart failure - so-called chronic gifblaar poisoning.

On post-mortem, leaves may be found in the rumen, cyanosis may be seen, as well as signs of heart failure - congestion, haemorrhage, and myocardial necrosis (on histopathology).

The compound is equally poisonous to these species; an explanation is that the bulk grazing style of cattle, which is by nature less selective, lends itself to the ingestion of the plant.

This is associated with heavy grazing, leading to denudation of preferred species, and gifblaar is again the predominant herbage within the camp.