[We have pleasure in recording that the valuable fodder-grass, Panicum spectabile has at length reached the colony. We owe its introduction to our Government botanist, Baron von Mueller, who, after considerable exertion, has obtained a supply of the seed through the establishment of the Royal Botanic Garden, Kew,1 and who authorises us to notify that he will supply persons who desire to enter on its propagation and culture, upon receipt of address with a twopenny stamp for postage, provided they have the means of raising it, and their situations are such as might be suitable for its growth, for, being a native of tropical Africa, it is not likely that it will be able to endure more than a slight degree of frost. At this season the seeds must have artificial treatment, and probably it will be also necessary to keep the plants indoors until next spring before trusting them in the open ground. The seed did not appear, on inspection through the microscope, to be in good condition, and therefore to make sure of its vegetating properties, the Baron had a trial made by having a portion sown in a pot in a greenhouse, where a percentage— though rather small— had vegetated.2 This grass must not be confounded with another grass distributed in another colony under the same name, and which proved to be the well-known Andropogon haleppensis,3 a coarse, though enduring plant, useful in dry places, but a nuisance in arable land on account of its creeping underground stems being difficult to eradicate.]4
Andropogon haleppensis
Panicum spectabile
See M to W. Thiselton-Dyer, 26 November 1880. Seeds had been requested in M to J. Hooker, 28 May 1879.
The seeds were propagated in a glass house 'at a friends place' (M to W. Thiselton-Dyer, 1 January 1881 (in this edition as 81-01-01a). In the same letter M told Thiselton-Dyer: 'On careful examination I find however, that these flowers (and seeds) do not respond to the description of Pannicum spectabile. Possibly the Negros comprehend several species of Pannicum under the appellation Coapim.'
i.e. by Richard Schomburgk; see M to W. Thiselton-Dyer, 20 July 1878, and M to R. Tate, 22 November 1879.
The article continues by giving details of its vernacular name in Angola, Coapim, and an account of its characteristics extracted from B76.12.04.
Letter not found. The text given here is from 'THE GARDEN. HORTICULTURAL NOTES.', Leader (Melbourne), 1 January 1881. On the assumption that M's report would have been published promptly when he made it, it is dated to 27 December 1880, the earliest likely date after the publication of the previous issue on 25 December 1880.
Please cite as “FVM-80-12-27,” 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