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RBG Kew, Directors' Letters, Vol. LXXV, Australian and Pacific Letters 1859-1865, Letter no. 151. 62.05.24b

Plant names

Preferred Citation:

Ferdinand von Mueller to William Hooker, 1862-05-24 [62.05.24b]. 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/62-05-24b>, accessed April 5, 2025

1
MS black-edged; M's sister Bertha died on 7 September 1861.
Melbourne bot.
Garden 24/5/62
Dear Sir William.
I have much pleasure of sending you hereby a colored drawing of
Coccoloba platycada

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2
Coccoloba platyclada?
for the bot. Mag.
3
The illustration of Coccoloba platyclada, drawn by J. Schoenfeld and lithographed by W. Fitch, was published in Curtis's botanical magazine (W. Hooker (1827-64), vol. 89, t. 5382). The original drawing survives at Kew.
I believe it will be acceptable to you, as the plant is cultivated in Britain. I have given to Mr Oldfield, who has taken his passage in the Orwell plants of
Marsilea quadrifolia

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[L]
4
qadrifolia [L] interlined.
hirsuta Br (M. macropus) & of
Azolla

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for you.
I hope he will bring them alife. Would you kindly tell Mr Bentham, that the Lagunaria from Port Denison is certainly not specifically distinct from L. Patersonii. I would also advise Mr Bentham to look for curiosit[y's] sake over Dampiers plants in the Oxfordian collection. It seems that one of the Composites & the umbelliferous plant figured by Plukenet
5
Plukenet (1705). See B63.13.03 for a discussion of the illustrations, where M ‘hazarded an opinion on these almost archaeologic relics’.
are not refound. Mr Bentham draws my attention to the circumstance, that
Warburtonia

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= Hibbertia gross[u]larifolia
6
grossulariifolia?
Salisb. I had so far recognized already the error, that I drew the genus to Hibbertia (in the II vol of fragm
7
B61.11.10. See also G. Bentham to M, 24 March 1862.
p. 182) But as the ovaries are more numerous in Hibb. grossularifolia, the species may possibly be distinct. — I was misled to the grave error, by Mr Oldfield having sent me the plant as a Rosaceous one, a fact which brought my contemplation of the plant in a wrong direction & caused an error, for which never the less I am fully responsible. Had Mr Oldfield been able to send me ripe fruits of the plants, the mistake would not have occurred.
Ever, dear Sir William,
yours most regardfully
Ferd Mueller
8
The following text is from a note attached to an herbarium sheet (K831417) of a specimen of the plant collected by Milne and forwarded to Kew by M. It is likely that the text accompanied the drawing. Above M's text there is an undated pencilled note signed John MacGillivray:
Found at Wanderer Bay, Guadalcanar [now more usually 'Guadalcanal'], Solomon Islands, during the Voyage of HMS Herald by Mr Milne, the Botanical Collector, who gave a living plant to Messrs Shephard, Sydney, in several of the Nurseries and gardens of which place it is growing quote vigorously-
M's specimen labels on the sheet, which give New Caledonia as the source, have been crossed through, with a note added in an unknown hand 'Solomon Islands, fide F. Muell, in litt .'.
Dear Sir William
The
Coccoloba platycada

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was given to me as a plant from New Caledonia. But from the above note
9
See below.
you will perceive that it is an error, it being found on Solomons Group, at the very place where Mr Boyd was killed.
10
Benjamin Boyd, who was killed c. October 1851 after landing from his yacht, Wanderer . 'Search for Mr. Benjamin Boyd, by Captain Denham, R.N.', Sydney morning herald , 10 August 1855, p. 2., gives details of his investigation in the Solomon Islands, December 1854-January 1855.
Ever yours
Ferd Mueller.
11
The following text is given with the illustration in the magazine , where it is printed as a quotation from M (see B63.06.01). It is included here as it is highly likely that it was an enclosure to this letter.
This remarkable plant was discovered at Wanderer Bay, Solomon's Islands, by Mr. Milne, during Captain Denham's Voyage of H.M.S. Herald, and a living specimen of it was communicated to Messrs. Shepherd, of the Darling Nurseries, of Sydney, from whence the plant was received at the Melbourne Botanic Garden.
12
In the published text, an asterisk at this point leads to a footnote: 'Specimens sent from the above locality to Kew by Mr. Milne are destitute of flower; but the living plants have increased both at Sydney and at Melbourne, and we have growing plants from both establishments.'
Although naturally growing in swampy localities and in a tropical region, we find it not only thriving well in ordinary flower-borders, but also resisting the occasional light frosts of the winter season at Melbourne. Being throughout the year covered with innumerable blossoms, generally interspersed with bright-red and finally dark-purple berries, we regard this plant, irrespective of its curious flat, leaf-like ramifications, also in a horticultural point of view, as one of the most interesting acquisitions of our gardens, and anticipate, that ere long it will become a general garden favourite. Grown in the conservatory, the plant produces mainly leaves, but continues usually flowerless; and when even cultivated in the open air in the Australian lowlands, leaves are sparingly or hardly developed, whilst instead the flowers are produced in the utmost exuberance. Our cultivated plants have as yet never produced any fertile seeds, and consequently the generic position of this species remains as yet doubtful, especially since no genuine species of Coccoloba is hitherto known from the eastern hemisphere; and since the habit of our plant is quite at variance with any other member of the Order. Indeed it is not improbable that our plant is referable to Muehlenbeckia , under which name it has been distributed from our herbarium, or it may, on future examination of the embryonic characters, be proved that the plant represents a peculiar genus, to which then the published sectional name,
Homalocladium

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, may be given. It is most readily multiplied from cuttings.