[A fine specimen of the true buffalo grass of America is to be seen in the window of Messrs. Hookings and Son, Queen-street. It is fully 10 feet high, and this height has been attained on very poor soil. On rich damp soil it yields a heavy crop of sweet succulent fodder, and would appear well adapted for green fodder for dairy farmers. The botanical name of the grass is Teosinté tripsacum monostachyon.1 The specimen was grown in Bowen Park, from seed procured from Baron Friedrich von Mueller, Government Botanist, Victoria, by the Board of Enquiry into Diseases in Stock and Plants.']
Tripsacum monostachyon
Teosinte is a common name.
Letter not found. The text given here is from Brisbane courier, 30 March 1878, p. 5, col. d. Despite the title of the Queensland Board, chaired in 1877 by Augustus Gregory, it also facilitated 'collection and cultivation of the most useful indigenous and foreign grasses and fodder plants, with a view of providing winter pastures, and a supply of seeds for distribution' ('Diseases in animals and plants', The week (Brisbane), 17 November 1877, p. 5). The report concludes 'If well seconded by farmers and stockowners, these efforts of the board to regenerate the pastures of the colony by the importation of foreign and reproduction of indigenous grasses, cannot fail to have beneficial effect'. The supply of seeds is dated to 1877; in B95.08.08, under Euchlaena mexicana, M states that Teosinte requires 10 months to reach maturity.
Please cite as “FVM-77-00-00a,” 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