Document information

Physical location:

RB MSS M1, Library, Royal Botanic Gardens Melbourne. 73.03.28b

Preferred Citation:

John Kerr to Ferdinand von Mueller, 1873-03-28 [73.03.28b]. R.W. Home, Thomas A. Darragh, A.M. Lucas, Sara Maroske, D.M. Sinkora, J.H. Voigt and Monika Wells (eds), Correspondence of Ferdinand von Mueller, <https://vmcp.rbg.vic.gov.au/id//letters/1870-9/1873/73-03-28b-final.odt>, accessed June 10, 2026

1
MS found with a specimen of Solanum nigricans (MEL 13057).
Custom House
Melbourne 28th March 1873
Baron von Mueller
Sir
I have the honor to forward to you a sample of a plant which a farmer from the Broadmeadows
2
Vic.
has handed to me in order that you may be good enough to furnish me with your report thereon.
3
See M to J. Kerr, 29 March 1973.
— I am informed that this plant is supposed to be the cause of seven head of cattle at that place dying within half an hour of each other yesterday. —
I have the honor to be
Sir
Your most obedient servant
John Hunter Kerr
In the absence of the C. I. of Stock
4
MS is accompanied by an unidentified newsclipping describing the events at the farm in Broadmeadows and saying that Kerr had ‘submitted the plant to Baron von Mueller, who pronounced it to be a species of nightshade, the Solanum nigrum of Linnæus. It is a deadly poison.’ The article went on to describe the plant as ‘a powerful sedative, it depresses the whole circulation, and through the heart affects the brain'. It reported that the veterinary surgeon Graham Mitchell was to visit the farm and examine the stomach of one of the dead animals.