The College
Dooen,1
Mar 7th 1889
Baron, Sir F. von Mueller KCMG.
My dear Baron,
I take the liberty of enclosing for your inspection and naming, specimens of three plants
No 1. — Atriplex (? var) used to be the great fattening plant for stock on the great plains of the Wimmera district2 but it is only to be met with now in isolated or protected spots where stock cannot approach.
No 2. ?Kochia pyramidata was also a great standby in drought in this region but it has shared the same fate as the Atriplex having been eaten out by stock and not having a chance of maturing its seed — the penalty Australia is paying for the squatting system, for many valuable plants are nearly extinct on the vast plains once occupied by the sheep and cattle of the squatters.
No 3 is certainly a Cuscuta or Dodder, and it prevails over portions of the plains which have not been ploughed or cultivated. I do not know whether it would be likely to infest useful plants on cultivated areas but it is not at all partial to any one plant as a host here, as it adheres to fully 20 different genera3
Very faithfully your
William Clarson
Atriplex
Cuscuta
Kochia pyramidata
Please cite as “FVM-89-03-07,” 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