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From John Holdsworth to Ferdinand von Mueller   15 Aug 1887

Memorandum

From J. Holdsworth,

Family & Dispensing Chemist.

Pall Mall Sandhurst.1

Aug 15th 1887

To Baron Von Mueller

Melbourne

Dear Sir

Enclosed please find a sample of herb growing on the Yanko2 plains 20 miles S. W. of the Murrumbigee N.S.W. it frequents sandy hills & grows quite close to the ground in fact a creeper. When fresh it is quite purple on the back of leaf, and sheep soon after eating get dizzy & die, the drover who brought me this states that he lost 300 out of 4000 sheep during one night Seeing a paragraph in the Argus3 re sheep poisoning Thought this would be of interest to you, I should be glad to know its history if you should think it worth while to investigate into it

Yours truly

J H B Holdsworth

1

Now Bendigo, Vic.

2

Now Yanco.

3

Probably 'A thousand sheep poisoned near Bourke', Argus, 10 August 1887, p. 6.

4

MS found with a specimen of Euphorbiaceae indet. (MEL 231300). MS annotation by M: 'Answ | 16/8/87'. Letter not found.

Please cite as “FVM-87-08-15,” 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 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/vonmueller/letters/87-08-15