The herb No. 1 sent is Alternanthira1 triandra. It has rather a wide range over humid regions in Australia, and also Asia and Africa. The order of plants to which it belongs contains no poisonous principles. No. 2 is Panicum effusum, a native of the eastern parts of Australia. I have not known it as a Gippsland grass before, but it might easily have been brought from New South Wales. It should be a valuable meadow grass, unless pasture animals dislike it for its hairyness. The seed-bearing tops are, however, very prolific, and must be very nutritious. The panicum will be destined to play an important part in the pasturage of the Bairnsdale district. In Queensland it is now planted by the acre.
Alternanthira triandra
Panicum effusum
Typesetter's error for Alternanthera?
Letter not found. The text given here is from Bairnsdale advertiser and Tambo and Omeo chronicle, 13 March 1894, p. [2], col. d, (B94.03.11). On the assumption that the letter would be reported to and published by the thrice-weekly newspaper as soon as received, it is dated to 9 March as the latest likely date it could have been sent. It is introduced by 'Portions of the Mitchell River flats, near Bairnsdale, have become coated with new grasses, etc., since the floods of December last, and some graziers have been anxious to learn how to treat the newcomers—as friends or enemies. Mr D. Clark, B.C.E, the director of the Bairnsdale School of Mines, procured some samples, and those which he could not name himself, or had a doubt about, he forwarded to Baron von Mueller, that wonderful encyclopaedia of botanical lore, and has received the following reply:—
Please cite as “FVM-94-03-09a,” 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