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RBG Kew, Directors' letters, vol. LXXIV, Australia letters 1851-8, letter no.170. 57.10.11

Plant names

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Ferdinand von Mueller to William Hooker, 1857-10-11. 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/57-10-11>, accessed April 19, 2025

Melbourne bot. Garden
11 Oct. 1857
My dear Sir William.
I gladly employ my last leisure hours before the close of the mail in giving a short summary of my botanical labours since the last month, having little else of interest to communicate, and I hope you will excuse the scantiness of the manuscripts transmitted this time, as my duties on the bot. garden, the preparations for the show to be held this week and several other extralabours absorbed nearly the whole of my time. Thus my labours on the Acacias are not yet closed and I can only give on this occasion a descriptive discourse on the sections Brunioideae, Triangulares, Aphyllae, Armatae, Pungentis, Alatae and Calamiformes. The elaboration of the sections Uninerves and Brachybotryae are under progress and will probably follow by the next mail.
The last journey through tropical Australia, notwithstanding its great extent has brought no additions to the series Aphyllae, Alatae and Armatae, Cunningham's
Acacia bossiaeoides

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(if really an Acacia) not having been noticed by us.
The few remarks which I submit on these refer consequently to extra-tropical species of my former collections and are merely supplementary to Mr Benthams notes in the Linnaea.
1
Bentham (1853).
A. Muelleri I would prefer excluding from Alatae and transferring to Uninerves, as in many species of that section with which it also better agrees in habit, the phyllodia are becoming occasionally very much decurrent.
The North Australian collections show only a single species of the series triangulares, seemingly Acacia deltoidea [β]
2
The character is ill-formed but the context suggests that β was intended; see Bentham (1842), p. 333.
pungens [B]th
3
editorial addition — obscured by binding.
but [scarcely] the legitimate Cunninghamian plant. Of the very distinct A. pravissima from the Buffalo Ranges, belonging to this section, altho in habit closely approaching to A. vestita & A. cultriformis, I beg to offer now a full account.
4
Hooker did not publish M's expanded description of A. pravissima, which appeared in B58.03.01, p. 5, citing Bentham (1853), p. 608. M mentioned it without description in B53.10.01.
With A. Gunnii Bth I am obliged to combine A. vomeriformis A. C. according to a complete series of intermediate forms. A. obliqua A. C. amongst triangulares has the pod spirally twisted, by which character a close affinity is established of this plant with A. acinacea, amongst Uninerves, to which it likewise bears the greatest habitual resemblance. A. pravifolia doubtfully subjoint by Mr Bentham to A. sublanata, shares in the peculiarity of the cincinnate pod of the two last mentioned species and seems very remarkable for its large heartshaped bracteoles and for the pungent rigidity of its branches.
Of the Pungentes group we found only two species in North Australia of which one strange to say resembles greatly the Tasmanian
Acacia diffusa

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Ldl. Of Ac. colletioides, A. rupicola, A. cuspidata, A. Brownii, & A. sphacelata follows the description of the fruit. The latter species A. leptoneura and A. latipes Bth belong to the flora of the country around Spencers Gulf and prove, that many of the West Australian species are extending around the Great Australian Bight. The variety of Acacia verticillata W., which I called cephalantha belongs assuredly to that species, altho the inflorescence becomes perfectly spherical. From intratropical Australia I possess two species of the Group Calamiformes, one probably A. pinifolia Bth. A. Wilhelmiana is scarcely combinable with A. nematophylla principally on account of the smallness of its pod. A. chordophylla, which we cultivate, approaches very much to A. ephedroides Benth. The Brunioideous section contains 5 species from North Australia vize A. lycopodifolia A. C., A. galioides Bth, A. conferta A. C., A. asperulacea n. sp., & A. subternata n. sp., the latter remarkable for the hard flatt oblique septate pod of certain juliferae. A. imbricata from Spencers Gulf combined by Mr Bentham probably misled by very imperfect specimens, with the East Australian A. conferta ought to stand amongst the Uninerves, showing much affinity to A. lineata. It differs from A. conferta in terminal leaf-glands, angulate Branches, much narrower hardly compressed and stalked pods, one-nerved phyllodia, distinctly areolate seeds and a much dwarfer habit. No species of this section has hitherto been found in the colonies of South Australia and Victoria. To the numerous new kinds of juliferous Acaciae I have to add one from the Gulf of Carpentaria previously overlooked. —
A small collection of plants arrived lately again from Mr Hill of Moreton Bay. It contains additional to our former collections
Eriochilus autumnalis

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(formerly not known to exist so far north), a parasitical orchid with minute flowers apparently new to the Australian Flora),
Tecoma floribunda

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A. C.,
Oxylobium obtusifolium

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Sweet,
Boronia tetrathecoides

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DC.,
Sycios angulatus

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L.,
Didiscus albiflorus

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D. C.
Brachychiton discolor

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and
Lindsaea linearis

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Sw. — For Professor Lindley I beg to enclose a few specimens of a Phajus from Wide Bay (East Australia) accompanied by a full description drawn up from a cultivated specimen.
5
Presumably P. australis (B58.06.01, p. 42).
I am not aware of any previous notice of the existence of this genus in Australia. The flowers are smaller than in Ph. grandifolius, but quite as beautiful.
I also enclose a few reprints of diagnostics of new plants from the papers of the Victorian Institute.
6
Presumably B55.13.05, B55.13.06, and B55.13.07; however, no copies of these papers have been found in the collection of papers by M in either the bound volume (F. Mueller Opuscula) or the collections of pamphlets at Kew.
My reason for publishing them here was to excite the interest of the different contributors to my collections, to continue to do so in the future.
A Polypodium, which I watched in its natural localities and found to be completely distinct from
Polypodium rugulosum

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Lab. in coreaceous fronds exists in Gipps Land, Tasmania and New Zealand. It seems to be new and formerly confused with
Polypodium rugulosum

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. The
Brachychiton discolor

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forms according to Mr Hill a tree 80' high.
Two fine Wardian Cases ful of plants (chiefly ferns and
Fagus Cunninghami

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) are now officially handed over to the Colonial Storekeeper of Victoria, to be forwarded by the "Northumberland" to Kew. Most thankfully would I be to get the cases soon returned with American Mediterranean or Indian Oaks, for I am so anxious to advance this garden
15. Oct.
Just at the close of the mail, dear Sir William, arrives your kind letter of July 6th,
7
Letter not found.
which I beg to acknowledge. Those obligingly forwarded to Sydney will be returned only by Sir Will. Denison, probably after a good while, as his Excellency is probably now started on a voyage to Norfolk-Island.
To my excellent friends Harvey and Elsey my respects. In case those famous Botanists mentioned as working at Kew are yet there, I beg to enclose for them a few pamphlets.
My best wishes for you and Dr Hooker.
Yours obediently
Ferd. Mueller.