Melbourne
3/12/74.
Let me thank you, dear Doctor, for the sending of the Stipas.1
The fragments of leaves sent by you are those of Daphne Laureola the English & south European Spurge-laurel so far as I can judge, without having seen flowers & fruits. I do not know the bush by the name of Wood laurel, but am not familiar with all the provincial names of English plants.
In a similar way (with more or less intensity) are our Pimeleae acrid and drastic purgatives and indeed their barks epispastics. So with caution they may be tried as substitutes for the Daphne, to which they are closely allied.
Trusting that your health remains unimpaired, and that with your religious piety you enjoy full tranquillity of mind I remain your very regardful
Ferd. von Mueller.
You will find that even ⅛ of a grain of the dry leaf — if chewed — causes a burning sensation; so it is with the Pimeleas, but some of them are less powerful in their action. An overdose of these kinds of poison plants might easily prove fatal.
The Stipas might be turned to commercial account as paper material.
Daphne Laureola
Pimelea
Stipa
M to G. Story, 18 August 1873 requested specimens of a 'fibre Stipa' when it flowered; no evidence of specimens sent earlier has been found.
Please cite as “FVM-74-12-03,” in Correspondence of Ferdinand von Mueller, edited by R.W. Home, Thomas A. Darragh, A.M. Lucas, Sara Maroske, D.M. Sinkora†, J.H. Voigt† and Monika Wells accessed on