Document information

Physical location:

RBG Kew, Directors' letters, vol. LXXIV, Australia letters 1851-8, between letter nos 153-4. 55.07.12

Plant names

Preferred Citation:

Ferdinand von Mueller to William Hooker, 1855-07-12. 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/55-07-12>, accessed November 14, 2024

1
MS address: ' On Her Majesty's Service | Sir Will. Jacks. Hooker, K.H. | D.C.L. LL.D. F.R.S. V.P.L.S &c &c &c | Director of the Royal | Gardens of Kew | near | London | Ferd. Mueller '.
[Sydney, 12 July 1855]
2
editorial addition — dated on the basis of the postmarks Sydney [13] July, and '1855'.
MS annotation probably by W. Hooker: '[Typus] Duttonia'. See B56.03.01.
There is an extract from a letter from Sydney, dated 12 July 1855, printed in B56.01.01 pp. 12-13. That extract is included as the first two paragraphs of this transcription, but the sequence is conjectural.
This will probably be the last letter which I shall have the honour of addressing to you for a long time, since I have now definitely accepted the appointment of Botanist for the North Australian Expedition. I have accepted this appointment reluctantly, and only after His Excellency the Governor-General had expressed his opinion, that through your influence I might be permitted to retain a set of specimens to be formed during the Expedition, in order that I might describe what we may be able to add to botanical science. I sincerely trust that you, Sir William, will not let me pray in vain; for when I say that it would have been in my power to discover many hundred new plants in the meanwhile on the borders of the settled districts of Australia, without engaging in an expedition of such eminent dangers and privations, and that my fixed appointment in Victoria will probably render it difficult for me to visit England for the purpose of describing my collections, then I think you will agree with me in viewing my request a just one; and I feel convinced, from former kindness which I experienced from you, that you would not wish I should sink to the position of a mere collector.
3
At the end of the published extract W. Hooker wrote: 'Dr Mueller's most just and reasonable request to be allowed to have a full set of his specimens for his especial use has been forwarded to us by the Colonial Office; and the Chief Secretary of the Colonies has not failed to grant his sanction to so modest a request from a true man of science, as Dr. Mueller is.' See footnotes M to A. Gregory, 9 July 1855.
I am so multifariously occupied with arrangements, that I can add but little to this request; I will however state, that in case of my death I have made arrangements for my own private herbarium and collections, and the manuscripts of the Flora of Victoria, to be forwarded to England for publication.
[...]
4
An unknown amount of MS missing.
You would place me under great obligation by sending a Hookerian improved simple microscope, such as Dr Harvey has. I will pay for it in books and specimens; it would be very advantageous to find it in Sydney after my return, and I would desire you, Sir William, to address any communication rather [here] to C. Moore Esq Sydney bot Gardens and as my labours on the Victorian Flora have drawn now to a close for some time if not for ever, I should think that a selection from my manuscripts, exhibiting those plants, not yet published, would prove useful.
5
You would … bot Gardens is an annotation on the side of the address sheet of the MS, but would be inside the letter when folded. and as my labours … prove useful is a marginal annotation. This text may be a continuation of the text on a missing sheet. There is certainly at least one sheet missing, because the main text on this side of the sheet begins with half of a botanical name and the letter ends abruptly.
[...]
6
An unknown amount of MS missing.
lancifolius,
Boronia dentigera

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,
Eucalyptus cosmophylla

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, E. costata, E. leucoxylon, E. fasciculosa, E. largiflorens, E. Behriana, E. santalifolia, E. gracilis, Sesbania Australis,
Eurybya conocephala

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,
Pleuropappus phyllocalymmeus

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,
Ixiolaena supina

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,
Helichrysum adenophorum

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,
Helipterum praecox

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, H. exiguum, Senecio helichrysoides,
Laurentia platycalyx

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,
Goodenia glauca

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,
Acrotriche prostrata

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,
Duttonia gibbifolia

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,
Leptomeria pungens

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, Santalum persicarium,
Exocarpus pendula

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, Xerotes dura,
Agrostis gelida

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, A. nivalis, Stipa aristiglumis,
Aristida contorta

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,
Aristida Behriana

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,
Danthonia robusta

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, Poa syrtica, P. ramigera,
Poa brizochloa

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,
Panicum coenicolum

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, P. ammophilum P. convallium, P. prolutum, P. melananthum, P. lacunarium,
Hierochloe submutica

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.
I have erroneously stated in the introduction to the diagnoses of the Alpine plants, that I had
Eurybia alpicola

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and E. megalophylla described.
7
B55.09.03 p. 96.
These are however by some blunder omitted and I would feel greatly obliged if you, Sir William, would give to these two very fine plants publication in your excellent miscellany.
8
The names of the two Eurybia species are underlined and a cross has been placed next to the line in which they appear. This marking was W. Hooker's normal method of indicating parts of letters to be published. However, the species were not described until later, B60.13.01.
There are several others which I think are likewise excellent species for instance
Corraea La Trobeana

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, many
Acacia

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s,
Erianthus Mitchelli

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, Rhynchostemon Tasmanicus &c
9
Rhynchostemon has been underlined by Hooker.
Erianthus Mitchelli

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and Rhynchostemon Tasmanicus not in IPNI. Correa latrobeana was among the plants determined for S. Hannaford by M. See Hannaford (1856) p. 40. See M to W. Hooker, 1 February 1857, for comments on Hannaford's publication.
[…]
10
An unknown amount of MS missing.