The correspondence of Ferdinand von Mueller: Melbourne bot. & zool. Garden, ¶ 25 Aug 60 ¶ My dear Sir William. ¶ ¶ I enclose a few pages of my flora ¶ again and a few plates, also Fragmenta XIII ¶ with curious things. In a careful investigati...

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RBG Kew, Directors' letters, vol. LXXV, Australian and Pacific letters 1859-65, letter no.126. 60.08.25a

Plant names

Brachychiton gregorii
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Chrysobalaneae
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Corraea
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Cressa
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Dracaena Draco
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Elaeocarpus obovatus
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Euphorbia Chamaesyce
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Frankenia laevis
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Frankenia tetrapetala
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Goodenia
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Lycium
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Nitraria Schoeberi
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Phytolacceae
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Prostanthera
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Roepera aurantiaca
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Senna
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Stylobasium
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Zygophylleae
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Zygophyllum fruticulosum
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fabagifolium
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Preferred Citation:

Ferdinand von Mueller to William Hooker, 1860-08-25 [60.08.25a]. 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/60-08-25a>, accessed April 6, 2025

Melbourne bot. & zool. Garden,

25 Aug 60

My dear Sir William.

I enclose a few pages of my flora

B62.03.03. Proof sheets were being sent to Kew as they became available.

again and a few plates, also Fragmenta XIII

B68.08.01.

with curious things. In a careful investigation of the Australian plants many curious facts became unveiled. Thus I find that Ldl constitutes only the desert-form of the normal coast variety of Zygophyllum ( ) fruticulosum. I have examined carefully & refer it from to . I have also received seeds of from Sharks Bay

WA.

& find that I was quite correctly anticipating its generic position.

See B62.03.03, p. 157, for a discussion of the generic position of Brachychiton.

Do you not think, that it would be preferable to refer Nitraria to & does my plate of it show it to be distinct from N. Schoeberi?

Nitraria schoberi?

M's plate is of Nitraria Billardierii (Supplemental plate 7 in B65.02.06). M placed Nitraria in Malpighiaceae (B62.03.03, p 92), but Bentham & Hooker (1862-83) vol. 1, p. 251, list Nitraria under 'Malpighiaceae / Genera affinia aut exclusa. V. dubia' with the instruction 'Vide Zygophylleas' [sic] and describe it under on p. 265, giving 'F. Muell. Fl. Vict. 92; t. Suppl. 7' as one of their sources.

Since I have proved the identity of & F. laevis,

B62.03.03, pp. 82-3.

I can well imagine, that with [Cr]es[s]a, &c it may prove identical with the respective plants, which in the Orient we find consociated & our may be an other plant, yet to be identified with a northern species. Your name Elaeocarpus coriaceus has to be substituted for E. obovatus, in as much as Don's Australian plant is published prior to that of Arnott as far as I can percieve. Is there any possibility of getting in a letter from any of your oriental correspondents seeds. It strikes me, that would thrive in Australia, and that it wood

would?

be of great value to us to receive seeds, should the plant in your noble Palm house produce any. I have made an other attempt of introducing something of interest into your conservatories, by shipping to day (free of freight) a Wardian Case pr. Sussex.

Most of the plants are so large & strong, as to have a fair prospect of travelling to the antipodes under ordinary circumstances. To fill the case I was however obliged to place into it a few of smaller size, yet well rooted.

I am particularly anxious that the two s the & the s may reach you, as, if once obtained, they would be no doubt be

Word repeated.

distributed from Kew soon over the principle gardens of Europ.

Of the 26 specimens sent, twelve were recorded as 'dead', including amplexans, Macmillani, Correa aemula and spinosa; coccinea was recorded as 'bad'. The Kew clerk noted: "A Wardean (sic) Case in pretty good condition, but very wet, this may perhaps be with salt water." (RBG Kew, Kewensia, inwards book 1859-67, pp. 83ff.).

Trusting that under the blessing of providence