Document information

Physical location:

RBG Kew, Directors' letters, Vol. LXXV, Australian and Pacific letters 1859-1865, letter no. 193. 65.06.24

Plant names

Preferred Citation:

Ferdinand von Mueller to William Hooker, 1865-06-24. 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/65-06-24>, accessed April 21, 2025

24/6/65
Dear & venerable Sir William.
Through the disaster, which befel the steamer Bombay possibly one set of my letters to you has been lost & certainly I shall be prevented (as the substituted steamer Salsette cannot be here before the 26) to respond to any communications of yours unless his Excellency commands the delay of this months steamer-mail for one day. I will endeavour to recollect what notes I sent to you by the Bombay & try to restore them. It would be dreadful if the poor crew had lost their lifes.
1
The Bombay was totally lost, by fire, at Montevideo on 14 December 1864, with the loss of one officer and 93 crew. See London Times , 14 February 1865, p. 10, for a report of the findings of the Court Martial of the Captain.
The new number of the Fragmenta has not been completed for this mail, but will appear next week, so still in June & bring additionally several [Filic]
2
This doubtful reading is guided by an examination of the contents of B65.07.03, which contains accounts of several Filices; B65.06.02 does not contain any entry that could support a possible reading.
a few monocotyledonous plants. Prof Oliver will be interested in examining the fruit of
Nuytsia ligustrina

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. Externally it is very different to that of N. floribunda & if the ruminate albumen really can be relied on for discriminating certain
Arabiceae

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generically we have to apply with equal force the same character to the allied
Loranthaceae

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. Having sent all my
Loranthaceae

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to Bentham
3
In Box 25, by the Great Victorian , 11 January 1865 (RB MSS M44, Notebook recording despatch of plants for Bentham for Flora australiensis , Library, Royal Botanic Gardens Melbourne).
I could not reexamine the fruit of
Nuytsia floribunda

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, but possibly I shall receive some for that purpose by the incoming mail.
Pray inform Mr Bentham that the draft of £100 - - (clear of agio)
4
i.e., £100 after the costs of exchange of currency.
has been placed at his disposal at the Colony's Agent, from whom he will receive it at a moments notice. I am so informed by the Ministerium of finances.
Having had the heavy seasons work to attend to in laying out extensive new avenue lines, pine plantations in the Gov. House reserve (where I have now established 12,000 pines!) and further having been obliged to devote a share of my time to aid the Ladies
5
Ladies' Leichhardt Search Committee.
in their arrangements for Leichhardts search, I could not well work up many plants of late. But for the time withdrawn, even if it was not so well spent as it is in promoting a holy cause, we shall be recompensed by the new collections to be made, Dr Murray a companion of Howitt, joining the party as physician & naturalist. He is a promising, thoughtful & accomplished man.
The party will be finally organized next week & then proceed. The Ladies have exerted themselfes to their utmost, have some aid received from the Governments of Queensland, South Australia & Victoria & trust for the rest of the means needed to their highminded sisters in Europe and to future exertions. They have raised in Victoria within the last months nearly a thousand pounds by private subscriptions
But I have not time to say any thing more on this great object. Sir Roderick Murchison will hear more fully of
6
from?
me, it concerning more geography than phytology.
7
Letter not found. But see M to R. Murchison, 22 April 1865, the exploration contract between M and Duncan McIntyre of 20 July 1865, and M to C. Darling, 21 July 1865.
It will interest you that
Ochnacea

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e are at last found in Australia.
8
M described Brackenridgia australiana in B65.06.02, p. 29.
We shall gain many new orders & especially Indian Genera yet from N.E. Australia & I trust to render therewith the 5th vol of the Fragmenta especially interesting.
Case N. 26 has gone to you pr Sussex early this month. It contains supplemental material for Bentham's 3 volume.
9
Sent on 9 June 1865 (RB MSS M44, Notebook recording despatch of plants for Bentham for Flora australiensis , Library, Royal Botanic Gardens Melbourne).
Surely the
Compositae

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must be retained for the 4th Is it not interesting that we got
Aleurites

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now also from Australia? The fruit has been wrongly described by all authors. It is quite a dry capsule. The Case pr "Holmstall" has safely arrived with the
Chamaelaucieae

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& remaining ferns.
The donation of the excellent Indian & Japanese plants comes most welcome & renders me joyful & grateful. I am so anxious to add as much as I can of Indian plants to my collections, so that for many years to come critical comparisons of tropical Asiatic & tropical Australian plants may be instituted. Accept than
10
then?
my grateful acknowledgement for this new gift. The Lichens from the Rev. Mr Leighton are also a splendid addition to my comparatively scanty collection of these plants. As I cannot well reciprocate in kinds I will send the Rev Gentleman mainly Algae in exchange. I must furnish some habitats on
Myrtaceae

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& other
Calyciflorae

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to Mr Bentham but cannot possibly do so by this mail. Much thereon might be learnt from my manuscripts at Kew.
His Excellency allowed me to forward in the despatch bag the new volume of our R.S. to you. Will you kindly transmit the added volumes? Could you not induce some physiologist to examine the
Eucalyptus

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&
Melaleuca

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timber at Kew & to furnish notes on these specimens to be incorporated into the 3 vol. of the Austral flora? Such notes would enhance much the essay to be offered in the volume on
Eucalyptus

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& needed to be concise.
Allow me to co[ntinu]e your
attached friend
Ferd. Mueller.
I am missing the
Mollugineae

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, once transmitted. Are they still at
Kew?
11
One folder containing
Mollugineae

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was included in the fourth shipment of specimens for Bentham, 24 April 1862 (RB MSS M44, Notebook recording despatch of plants for Bentham for Flora australiensis , Library, Royal Botanic Gardens Melbourne).