diff --git a/include/cantera/base/xml.h b/include/cantera/base/xml.h
index 685f6b725..6122b21d7 100644
--- a/include/cantera/base/xml.h
+++ b/include/cantera/base/xml.h
@@ -156,17 +156,6 @@ public:
      */
     XML_Node& addChild(const std::string& sname);
 
-    //! Add a child node to the current node with a specified name
-    /*!
-     * This will add an XML_Node as a child to the current node.
-     * The node will be blank except for the specified name.
-     *
-     *  @param cstring  Name of the new child as a c string
-     *
-     *  @return         Returns a reference to the added node
-     */
-    XML_Node& addChild(const char* cstring);
-
     //! Add a child node to the current xml node, and at the
     //! same time add a value to the child
     /*!
diff --git a/src/base/xml.cpp b/src/base/xml.cpp
index df9d1ecf7..a25eb7aa3 100644
--- a/src/base/xml.cpp
+++ b/src/base/xml.cpp
@@ -435,11 +435,6 @@ XML_Node& XML_Node::addChild(const std::string& sname)
     return *m_children.back();
 }
 
-XML_Node& XML_Node::addChild(const char* cstring)
-{
-    return addChild(std::string(cstring));
-}
-
 XML_Node& XML_Node::addChild(const std::string& name_, const std::string& value_)
 {
     XML_Node& c = addChild(name_);