The correspondence of Ferdinand von Mueller: 25, WILTON PLACE. S.W. ¶ London ¶ Sept 20 1876 ¶ My dear Sir ¶ ¶ The Composite which has invaded Australia and of which you sent a specimen in your last letter is Inula graveolens a common weed in a ...

Document information

Physical location:

RB MSS M3, Library, Royal Botanic Gardens Melbourne. 76.09.20

Plant names

Anosporam
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Cyperaceae
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Cyperus
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Gramineae
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Inula graveolens
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Pandaneae
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Scirpus
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Preferred Citation:

George Bentham to Ferdinand von Mueller, 1876-09-20. 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/76-09-20>, accessed September 11, 2025

MS annotation by M: 'Zannich macrostem [i.e. Zannichellia macrostemon ] Anth 4-celled'. See M to G. Bentham, 28 November 1876.

25, WILTON PLACE. S.W.

London

Sept 20 1876

My dear Sir

The Composite which has invaded Australia and of which you sent a specimen in your last letter is a common weed in a great part of southern Europe especially in maritime districts

I returned to town on Wednesday last after a six weeks absence

Bentham left London on 3 August and returned on 13 September; see B. Jackson (1906), pp. 237-8.

and have now set to work at — I shall be anxious for the arrival of the Agamemnon with your specimens. They have sent me from Berlin on loan the Australian species published as new by Boeckeler — he has been working up the Berlin with great care but from what I see I scarcely think he is a good appreciator of generic and specific characters. His genus for instance (that is Anosporum Nees as extended by him) is a most unnatural combination of very different species of and on an imaginary character

I hope that by this time your may also be on their way here.

See M to G. Bentham, 26 September 1876.

I have been visiting at General Munro's

Bentham stayed with Munro from 3 to 14 August; see B. Jackson (1906), p. 237.

and whilst there I took notes on all the Australian in his collection and with his and your assistance I hope to get through the Order rapidly Genl Munro is now preparing for De Candolle a general monograph of the whole Order and it would be rendering a service to science if you would allow me to select for him where it can be well spared a set of your Australian ones.

See M to G. Bentham, 28 November 1876. Munro's monograph was not completed (Journal of botany, British and foreign, 1880, vol. 18, p. 96).

I hear nothing from Wendland about your Palms — I have worked them up as well as I could with the materials I had and I returned you yours with the other specimens I still had in the box that left Kew whilst I was away but there are still two or three of Drude's species that I have not seen

Young Balfour is working up with great care and doing them well

I. Balfour (1880) (read 6 December 1877, issued 31 July 1878).

I think of beginning to print as soon as I have got through which if your specimens come soon will I hope be soon after Xmas

Ever my Dear Sir

Yours sincerely

George Bentham

Baron v. Müller