THE "STRATHMORE WEED.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXII, Issue 10084, 3 September 1910, Page 5

THE "STRATHMORE WEED.

DANGEROUS TO HORSES

In view of the recent loss of horses in the Masterton district through the animals having eaten the "Strathraore Weed," the following letter written a year or two back to an Opaki settler by Mr T. W. Kirk, Government Biologist, may be of interest: —"The plant specimen received from you through the Masterton Inspector of Stock is a native known to the Maoris as the "Mataikairangi," and to Europeans as the "Strathmore" weed, the latter name having been applied to it owing to its having caused horse mortality on the Strathmore Estate, near Hawera. The botanical name of the plant is Pimelea prostrata (Primelea laevigata.) The Primeleas belong to a natural order of plants known as the Thymelaceal, several members of which are known to be the cause of stock poisoning, the highly poisonous plant daphne, so well known in gardens, being a notable example. The genus Pimelea is restricted to Australia and New Zealand, and one of the Australian species, Pimelea haemato stachyn, abuses great loss. Mr Bailey, Government Botanist, < i Queensland, says:—'lt is one of the worstj;'of poisonous herbs, and often causes the loss of hundreds of sheep; yet their lives could, perhaps, be saved, by slitting their ears soon after they Ifad eaten the herb.' There seems to be no doubt that the New Zealand Pimeleas are highly poisonous, and horses appear to be especially susceptible to their toxic action. Sheep appear to soon find out that the plant is dan'gerous, and will not eat it unless there is absolutely nothing else; but horses do not seem able to discriminate between it and harmless herbage."