[At last meeting of the Borough Council a specimen of Coapim grass (panicum spectabile) was received from the Government botanist, Baron Ferdinand Von Mueller.1 We have received a sample of the grass from the learned baron, and regarding it we extract the following from an exchange:]2
Panicum spectabile
The meeting was held on 16 March, where it was reported that the Curator of the Gardens had received seeds and that the Town Clerk had been instructed to acknowledge receipt. The report does not mention receiving a specimen. M evidently sent a further supply of seeds later in the month; see M to E. Henry, 29 March 1893 (in this edition as 93-03-29a).
M had been using newspapers at this time to distribute rootstock or specimens of the grown plant; see M to Bairnsdale advertiser and Tambo and Omeo chronicle, 16 March 1893 and notes thereto. The article continues with a long quotation from an unknown author, with details from B91.09.01 including a quotation concerning the plant's growth in Fiji; a very similar quotation is used with M to Port Fairy gazette, 18 March 1893 (in this edition as 93-03-18c).
Letter not found. The text given here is from 'Coapim Grass', Portland guardian, 22 March 1893, p. [2]. It is dated to 20 March on the assumption that the specimen was received on 21 March as the issue was being edited and would have been sent from Melbourne on the day before the newspaper was prepared for the press.
Please cite as “FVM-93-03-20b,” 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