Document information

Physical location:

79.04.00

Plant names

Preferred Citation:

Ferdinand von Mueller to the Inquirer and Commercial News, Perth, 1879-04. 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/1870-9/1879/79-04-00-final.odt>, accessed June 4, 2026

1
Letter not found. The text given here is from 'A valuable fodder', Inquirer and commercial news (Perth), 23 April 1879, p S 1 (B79.04.02). It is introduced by
By the last mail from Melbourne we received from Baron von Mueller a parcel of seeds of a valuable fodder plant recently introduced from Central America and grown with success in Queensland. Agreeably with the Baron's wish we have distributed the seeds among' residents in different parts of the colony who we think would take the trouble to raise it and obtain a supply of seed for a more extensive trial. … We cannot do better than quote the Baron's own words concerning it:—
The letter is dated to April 1879 since the 'last mail' was that received via Rob Roy which cleared out of Melbourne on 10 April and arrived in Fremantle on 21 April ( Argus , 12 April 1879, p. 6; Inquirer and commercial news, 23 April 1879, p. 3).
I send you some small lots of
Euchlaena luxurians

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, or Teosinthe of Mexico, a gigantic saccharine fodder-grass, concerning which I published a note in last year's volume of the Victorian Acclimation Society.
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B78.13.08, pp. 201-2.
Like so many other utilitarian plants, the Teosinthe also was first introduced by me into Australia. It produced last year seeds at Müellersville, near Rockhampton, in Queensland, on the estate of my late lamented friend Monsieur Thozet. In the cooler Victorian clime this grass has as yet not flowered, though it is raised here also, and as the seed which ripened at Müellersville was mainly required for distribution over all Queensland, I succeeded in getting an additional supply from the celebrated African explorer Dr. Schweinfurth, who has the credit of having brought this magnificent grass first under cultivation at Cairo. Allow me to advise that these precious seeds should not be entrusted to any one who has no means or inclination to bestow the utmost attention in rearing this important plant, as other wise my efforts to serve your colony will be in vain. The Teosinthe is annual; but by cutting it for fodder, and preventing it thus from flowering, it will grow for longer periods. When once this plant has come to bear seeds, you will obtain (as remarked in the publication of the Acclimation Society of last year, of which I sent several copies to W.A.) a very ample supply of seeds, so that this splendid grass may then become accessible throughout your settlements. It will be a particular boon for your northern districts. Where frosts fall the seeds should not be sown until the approach of the next spring, after the cold weather has passed.