The correspondence of Ferdinand von Mueller: If really such a wondrous weather plant exists, it cannot be an Abrus, because of that genus only A. Precatorius is known, which is neither like a Cactus nor does it inhabit Corsica or any other place...

Document information

Physical location:

90.02.00b

Plant names

Abrus Precatorius
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Preferred Citation:

Ferdinand von Mueller to the Leader, 1890-02 [90.02.00b]. 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/1890-6/1890/90-02-00b-final.odt>, accessed June 13, 2026

Letter not found. The text given here is from 'Answers to correspondents', Leader, 15 February 1890, p. 14 (B90.02.05). The text is introduced by ' Weather Plant .— H.M.B.— The Government Botanist has kindly favored us with the following:’.

If really such a wondrous weather plant exists, it cannot be an Abrus, because of that genus only A. Precatorius is known, which is neither like a Cactus nor does it inhabit Corsica or any other place in Europe.

There had been press reports of a 'weather plant', for example:

The "weather" plant continues to attract much interest in Vienna, and savants who at first were sceptically disposed towards it now admit its prophetic powers; 32,000 experiments with the plant have now been carried out, and have, it is said, shown its infallibility. The common name of the plant is 'Paternoster Cheese,’ and its Latin one Abrus peregrinus [ (sic), see below]. Its home is Corsica and Tunis. The stem and leaves are similar to those of the cactus. The tenderest leaves on the topmost shoots are said to forecast the weather forty-eight hours, and the lower stronger ones three days. The change of weather is indicated by the rising and falling of leaves and shoots. ( Leader , 28 December 1889, p. 14.)

The Kew Bulletin of miscellaneous information (1890), pp. 1-28, analyses these claims for Abrus precatorius , including quoting from a patent taken out by a manufacturing chemist and a market gardener, both of Prague, for apparatus to ensure that the plant operates as a "weather Indicator", and a report of experimental analyses of the phenomena by F. W. Oliver, Head of the Department of Botany at University College London, which did not support the claims.