["T. R. Ross-Watt."—Your specimen is identified by Baron von Mueller as "Ononis spinosa," a native of Europe and Western Asia. Yours is the first specimen of this plant that has come to hand.1 In Britain it bears the significant name of "Rest harrow." It should be eradicated, as it will likely prove a trouble both in the pastures and in the cultivated fields. The root of this plant has medicinal properties, and a green or a yellow dye can be obtained from the leaves.]
Ononis spinosa
Probably MEL 565726, attributed to W. W. Watts, collected in 1895 from 'Via Gisborne' (Vic).
Letter not found. The text given here is from 'The Yeoman. Answers to correspondents', Australasian (Melbourne), 16 March 1895, p. 185. This is the first of three responses provided by M that appeared in the same issue; there may have been a single letter containing all three reports, but as it is likely that specimens were forwarded to M as they arrived at the newspaper office, they are treated separately in this edition. However, assuming that the replies would be published in the next available issue in this weekly newspaper, they dated to 8 March 1895 as the likely earliest date they would have been sent.
Please cite as “FVM-95-03-08b,” 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