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94.01.00iPreferred Citation:
the Government Officer, Donald to Ferdinand von Mueller, 1894-01 [94.01.00i]. 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/1890-6/1894/94-01-00i-final.odt>, accessed June 9, 2026
1
Letter not found. The text given here is from
'what is killing the horses?,
Bendigo independent, 17 January 1894, p. 4. It is a comment at the end of an article discussing the death
of horses on the Lake Buloke common near Donald, Vic.,
's
urmised by many
[to arise]
from the eating
of a weed
known by the name of
knardoo
, which is very plentiful on the common after the waters of the lake rece
de
. …
It would be strange, however, if it proved to be the
knardoo
that caused the epidemic
...
[b
ecause]
i
t is known that the explorer King, the only survivor of the Burke and Wills expedition,
lived a considerable length of time on
seeds of the
knardoo
. There is, however, another weed growing on the common
rather similar to the
knardoo
,
and
it is quite possible that this will be found to be the cause of the epidemic.
' 'Knardoo' is more usually spelled 'nardoo'.
Later articles in many newspapers (e.g.
Age
(Melbourne), 27 January 1894. p. 9, col
.
b) report that M had identified the plant as
Euphorbia drummondi
.
2
Vic.