Document information

Physical location:

89.02.00a

Plant names

Preferred Citation:

Ferdinand von Mueller to the Agricultural Bureau of South Australia, 1889-02 [89.02.00a]. 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/1880-9/1889/89-02-00a-final.odt>, accessed June 4, 2026

1
Letter not found. The text given here is from 'Agricultural Bureau. Weeds', a report of the general meeting of the Bureau held on 18 February 1889, South Australian register , 19 February 1889, p. 7. It is dated to early February as the latest date that it could have been sent to have been reported at that meeting.
[ Baron von Mueller wrote to the effect that the weed which came from Glen Osmond
2
SA.
is , a native mainly of the countries on the Mediterranean Sea, but extending to the south of England and Ireland as a supposed indigenous plant. It was too bitter to be consumed by pasture animals, but it had no poisonous properties. Baron von Mueller also identified two samples of thistle as the , and the Centauria
3
Typesetter's error for Centaurea?
calcitrapa. These thistles were originally imported from the Mediterranean Coast. They now grow wild in South Australia, and are a great nuisance. The "Star" thistle referred to in the Parliamentary Act is the first-named thistle, but the
4
calcitrapa?
is the real "Star" thistle.]