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55.06.25

Plant names

Preferred Citation:

Ferdinand von Mueller to William Haines, 1855-06-25. 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/55-06-25>, accessed April 19, 2025

1
Letter not found. For the text given here, see B55.11.01. Governor Hotham transmitted a copy of this report to the Secretary of State for the Colonies, 4 December 1855 (Despatch 149, unit 2, p. 563, VPRS 1084, PROV).
REPORT OF THE GOVERNMENT BOTANIST.
Botanic Gardens, Melbourne,
25th June, 1855.
Sir,
I do myself the honor of transmitting for communication to His Excellency the Governor my Third General Report.
Having received, in October, 1854, His Excellency's sanction for a more extensive phytologic exploration of the Australian Alps, I left for Gipps' Land on the 1st of November, 1854.
Whilst travelling along the banks of the La Trobe River and the Avon, I had ample opportunities for convincing myself that an extensive tract of that country, on account of the fertility of its soil, the mildness of its climate, and the facility of clearing land there for agriculture, is undoubtedly destined to become, when the internal communication there has been more facilitated, the abode of a large and prosperous population.
Proceeding along the ranges of the Avon, which are generally barren, scrubby, and in many places densely timbered, I ascended Mount Wellington, the most southern summit of the Australian Alps, on the 22nd
2
This date is inconsistent with the one given in M to W. Hooker, 19 November 1854.
November, 1854, from whence I added some highly interesting plants to our botanical collections. At the elevation of about 4000 feet above the sea level, or at a subalpine altitude, a striking change is perceptible in the vegetation, since the valleys and plateaus, stretching from Mount Wellington to the north, and more or less westerly and easterly, are well saturated with moisture, both from the attraction of clouds, and from the dissolving snow, which, lying there for many months in the year, has given to these localities the appellation of "The Snowy Plains."
The route thus followed is the most practicable for penetrating from this part of Gipps' Land into the central mountains of the Alps, although an easier access yet may be found to them from Omeo, by following the generally grassy ranges to the westward from a few miles above the junction of the Livingstone River with the Mitta Mitta.
Proceeding on a second journey along the Darga,
3
Dargo.
which follows through some luxuriantly grassed recesses of the mountains, I advanced through a difficult country to the Bogong Range, the culminating point of the westerly systema of the Snowy Mountains; a dense scrub, and the total absence of water on the crest of the Wentworth Ranges, rendering the progress tedious, until I reached the Dividing Range towards the sources of the Cabongra,
4
Cobungra. See M to W. Haines, 16 December 1854 and notes thereto.
where again the feature of the country changes on the northern slopes of the mountains, or along the sources of the Murray tributaries. Here open valleys give access to the central ranges in almost every direction, and a profusion of grass and water attracts cattle during the summer months far into these mountains. The low scrubby underwood disappears with stringy bark, and box, eucalypti, and the dwarf forests of mountain gum trees, which replace them, may either be avoided or offer but little obstruction to the progress of a traveller.
According to a special report, which I had the honor of transmitting to the Government, dated Omeo, 16th December, 1854,
5
M to W. Haines, 16 December 1854.
I succeeded in reaching not only two of the main sources of the Mitta Mitta, but also the two most elevated heights of the Bogong Range; these perhaps not even previously trodden by the aborigines, since game and brushwood cease far below the summits. The two highest mountains, which I had the honor, by His Excellency's sanction, to distinguish as Mount Hotham and Mount La Trobe, are along the terminal ravines covered with eternal snow. It will be unnecessary to repeat here the respective bearings which I took from these all-commanding heights, since these are detailed in my special report; but it remains for me to confirm my computation with regard to their altitude. My calculations, based on the boiling water point, proved, after my return, that the summits of the Bogong Range are unsurpassed by any other known of this continent, approaching to the altitude of 7000 feet above the level of the ocean. A depressed Glacier Flora, imitating in some degree the botanical features of the European and other Alps, covers scantily the icy tops.
The bearings from the summit of Mount Tambo, instituted on the 17th December, 1854, gave the position of Mount Hotham due W., of Mount La Trobe, W. 4° S.
From Omeo I resumed my journey into the north-easterly systema of our Alps, through a delightful subalpine country, opening into wide valleys at the main sources of the Snowy River, many of these valleys well adapted and partially used for summer pastures.
I ascended the most northern alpine hill of the Munyang Mountains on the 1st of January, 1855, and traversed in the weeks subsequent most of the principal elevations of these prodigious mountains, adding also there again not inconsiderably to our herbarium. Here on very many places waters of the Murray and the Snowy River are rising in the closest proximity.
Descending, in the latter part of January, along the Snowy River to the lower country, I advanced as far easterly through the coast tract as the boggy nature of the country permitted, and I devoted my attention here again to the Flora of the Palm Tree Country, to improve my knowledge of the interesting plants discovered here previously in a more advanced season.
But the full botanical investigation of the south-eastern portion of this Colony, which, under the mildest climate, abounds in subtropical plants, can only be accomplished from the New South Wales frontier.
Returning from the Snowy River, I deemed it more promising to prosecute my operations on the coast, along which I proceeded to Lake King. Here I observed, amongst other rare and unknown plants, some fine trees of
Acronychia

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, a genus known from Eastern Australia and New Caledonia, remarkable for its splendid wood and the aromatic property by which the species are pervaded.
A most severe illness frustrated my intention of ascending Mount Bow Bow,
6
Baw Baw.
a wild, rocky, isolated summit at the south-western slope of the Australian Alps, hitherto unexplored, and perhaps the only locality from which additions may be expected of importance to our knowledge of the Alpine Flora.
Reflecting on the general results of this journey, I trust to be justified in considering them not without some importance, at least for the geography of plants. The expedition was planned more with a view of ascertaining the alliance between the vegetation of the Alps of Australia and plants of other countries, than with anticipations of largely enriching thereby the number of plants already under notice. Still, by referring to the enumeration annexed to this document,
7
Not reproduced here. See B55.11.01.
and to my former annual reports, it will be observed, that the total amount of either truly alpine, or at least subalpine plants of this country, exceeds 100 species, and it is pleasant to perceive that half of these are endemic, or not yet elsewhere discovered; whilst by far the greater part of the other half comprises such as inhabit Tasmania, or are likewise natives of New Zealand. A much smaller proportion is identical with plants found exclusively in New Zealand, or Lord Auckland's Group, or Campbells Island. The genus
Drapetes

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, for a long time only known in Fuegia, is now ascertained to exist, with other plants from the cold zone of South America, in the Australian Alps, New Zealand, Tasmania, and Borneo, and many other instances might be adduced to show the typical resemblance of many plants from the Alps of Australia with those of distant countries. As a most surprising fact in this regard, I beg to allude to the sudden reappearance of several European plants in the heart of the Australian Alps, plants which may be searched for in vain in the intervening country, viz.:—
Turritis glabra

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,
Sagina procumbens

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,
Alchemilla vulgaris

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,
Veronica serpyllifolia

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,
Carex Pyrenaica

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,
Carex echinata

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,
Carex canescens

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,
Carex Buxbaumii

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, and
Botrychium Lunaria

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. I may also advert to the occurrence of
Lysimachia vulgaris

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in the Gipps' Land morasses as another singular instance of the enigmatic laws which rule the distribution of plants, and I cannot suppress my opinion that such facts tend to annihilate all theories in favor of migration of species from supposed centres of creation.
8
Darwin (1859) in chapter 12 discussed the arguments concerning centres of creation, and cited M for his discovery of European species in the Southern Mountains of Australia.
The Index which I have annexed
9
Not reproduced here. See B55.11.01.
comprises also a large number of seaweeds, discovered by Professor Harvey, and adds thus 96 genera and 327 species to my previous enumerations, advancing the number of the former to 776, a sum which, as excluding all yet introduced plants, all fungi, and many undetermined genera of the lower orders, must be considered eminently large. The number of species ascertained to occur in Victoria exceeds, under the exclusions alluded to, already 2000. Excluding all algæ, 15 genera have been added to the Flora of this continent, two of them new to science—
Caltha

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,
Howittia

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,
Colobanthus

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, ,
Pozoa

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,
Diplaspis

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,
Seseli

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,
Diodia

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,
Nertera

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,
Decaspora

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,
Pæderota

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,
Drapetes

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,
Herpolirion

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,
Astelia

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, and
Andræa

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.
10
The only new genus in this list is
Dichopetalum

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, erected (D. ranunculaceum) in B55.09.03, pp. 101–2.
Seeds of native plants were collected, whenever obtainable, and have been distributed (in more than 1000 lots) with a view of increasing by interchange the supply for our own establishment to the best advantage. It is my pleasing duty to acknowledge here the valuable contributions for our gardens, received in return for my former collections, amongst which contributions those of Sir William Hooker, from the Royal Gardens at Kew, are prominent.
Engagements in the botanical perlustration of tropical Australia, for which His Excellency has been pleased to sanction my absence for the next and the current year, render it impossible to devote any time for the most desirable researches into the utility of so many of our native plants; but I have succeeded in finishing my systematic labors on the Flora of Victoria, so far as the material for it was accumulated, and an outline of the more interesting new plants has been furnished for the Journals of the Philosophical Society and the Victorian Institute.
11
B55.09.03, B54.13.06, B55.13.07.
A more extensive information on our native plants was forwarded to Sir William Hooker, and I trust that, on account of the great alliance of the Victorian and Tasmanian plants, these manuscripts will prove to be useful in the elaboration of the Flora of Van Diemen's Land, which is now to be published, under the auspices of the Imperial government, by Dr. J. Hooker.
A splendid collection of Algæ, procured on our shores by Professor Harvey, forms a valuable addition to our herbarium.
12
See 'Algae Australes ex indice Ha rvey' in the 'manuscripts' section of this website.
The whole of the collections may at all times be consulted in the Botanic Garden; and I hope sincerely that the labor which I have bestowed on these collections will not be in undue proportion to the information which they are intended to convey.
A regular transmission of botanical specimens to Kew has also been continued.
Steps have likewise been taken to procure from other countries such plants as promise to become of use to the Colony; and it is gratifying to know that Nature has favored us with a soil and with a climate in which all treasures of the vegetation dispersed through extra-tropical countries may be reared in perfection and abundance.
I have the honor to be,
Sir,
Your most obedient and humble Servant,
FERDINAND MUELLER,
Government Botanist.
The Honorable The Colonial Secretary.