The text is a comment at the end of an article discussing the death of horses on the Lake Buloke common near Donald, Vic., 'surmised by many [to arise] from the eating of a weed known by the name of knardoo, which is very plentiful on the common after the waters of the lake recede. … It would be strange, however, if it proved to be the knardoo that caused the epidemic ...[because] it is known that the explorer King, the only survivor of the Burke and Wills expedition, lived a considerable length of time on seeds of the knardoo. There is, however, another weed growing on the common rather similar to the knardoo, and it is quite possible that this will be found to be the cause of the epidemic.' 'Knardoo' is more usually spelled 'nardoo'.
A news item on the case in Ballarat star, 26 January 1894, p. 3, col. b, includes 'the Government botanist … reports that all were harmless, with the exception of one named the Euphorbia Drummondi, which in all probability caused the fatal result'. Other newspapers (e.g. Age (Melbourne), 27 January 1894, p. 9, col. b) imply that M had identified the plant as Euphorbia drummondi, and include extracts or paraphrases of M to D. Martin, 1888 (in this edition as 88-00-00g) about the poisonous nature of E. drummondi.
Typesetter's error for Knardoo? See previous note.
Vic.
Letter not found. The text given here is from 'what is killing the horses?', Bendigo independent, 17 January 1894, p. 4.
Please cite as “FVM-94-01-00i,” 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