The correspondence of Ferdinand von Mueller: Christmas 1866. ¶ ¶ I am glad, dear Mr Bentham, to learn that the Yorkshire arrived & thus hope my plants will have reached you in time. ¶ I am engaged preparing Goodeniaceae & Epacrideae as a first...

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Physical location:

RBG Kew, Kew correspondence, Australia, Mueller, 1858-70, f. 246. 66.12.25

Plant names

Aster
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Compositae
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Cordyline
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Cryptostemma calendulaceum
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Epacrideae
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Goodeniaceae
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Monopetaleae
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Senecio
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Tetracera
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Preferred Citation:

Ferdinand von Mueller to George Bentham, 1866-12-25. 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/66-12-25>, accessed February 23, 2025

Christmas 1866.

I am glad, dear Mr Bentham, to learn that the Yorkshire arrived & thus hope my plants will have reached you in time.

M sent box 29 on 21 July 1866 (RB MSS M44, Notebook recording despatch of plants for Bentham for Flora australiensis, Library, RBG Melbourne)

I am engaged preparing & as a first sending for vol IV & they will be despatched by one of the first clippers now. Some delay has arisen through the enormous work for the exhibition & through the necessity of inserting the Drummondian plants into the before I forward them.

M received James Drummond's herbarium of his WA collections from Drummond's son early in 1866; see M to G. Bentham, 5 February 1866.

has of late unfortunately also made its appearance in N. S. Wales.

The widespread pasture weed ('Capeweed') introduced from South Africa was collected in WA by Preiss (between 1838 and 1842) and recorded in Adelaide by 1841; M collected specimens from several locations around Adelaide in 1848 (Kloot (1983), p. 112). Bentham (1863-78), vol. 3, p. 675, does not record it from NSW or Qld.

I have now every new plant nearly mentioned in vol II & I from Cape York & many others, which I am just about to describe. 4 new s, 1 different from the one described,

In B66.12.04 M described three new species (C. hedychioides, C. manners-suttoniae, C. murchisoniae) , pp. 195-6, and daemeliana, p. 191.

&c.

I do not look upon a genus as necessarely a group of species & therefore do not object to genera formed of one species only, as long as the genus has clear marks. My opinion is, that a fair equal amount of characters should attached to each genus, whether mono- or poly-typic. In large genera ( & for instance) sections do best.

You will find my well marked up in most cases & the species since R BR's time doubled. I presume the completion of the for genera plantarum

Bentham & Hooker (1862-83). The Composites, worked up by Bentham, were not published until 1873.

will absorb your time yet for months

Your regardful

Ferd Mueller