["Thistle "— The plant with the globular berries is the English Nightshade, Solanum Nigrum. It is very poisonous, and should be exterminated as quickly as possible. Do not leave the plant on the ground after cutting, as it will ripen its seed.1 Baron von Mueller identifies the thistle-like plant as Ventrophyllum lanatium,2 a native of the countries on the Mediterranean Sea, and commonly called the Saffron thistle. It is an annual, and can be exterminated by cutting and preventing the ripening of its seeds.]
Solanum nigrum
Ventrophyllum lanatium
The information about Solanum nigrum may have been provided by the agricultural editor, without reference to M.
Typesetter's error for Kentrophyllum lanatum?
Letter not found. The text given here is from 'The Yeoman. Answers to correspondents', Australasian (Melbourne), 18 May 1895, p. 917. Assuming that the reply would be published in the next available issue in this weekly newspaper, it is dated to 10 May 1895 as the likely earliest date it would have been sent.
Please cite as “FVM-95-05-10,” 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