Ferdinand von Mueller

1

Letter not found. The text quoted by M that is given here is from 'Bolbophyllum minutissimum', Gardeners' chronicle, 21 June 1879, p. 790 (B79.06.02). It was enclosed with M to Gardeners' chronicle, May 1879 (in this edition as 79-05-00c).

I obtained it in a ravine at the back of Rushcutter's Bay, Port Jackson,

2

NSW.

where it was growing on sandstone boulders in moss almost within the reach of the drip from the overhanging rocks above. The locality has since been desecrated by the march of suburban improvements. As I have never found the plant elsewhere I was the more rejoiced to hear that you had obtained it from your correspondents. My plant was in seed, the pods being comparatively large (about ⅝ inch), while the pseudobulbs are small (about ⅛ inch), I have never seen the flower, but Mr. W. S. M'Leay, who very kindly permitted me to place the plant on one of the rocks at his residence, Elizabeth Bay, told me that it flowered with him, but he regretted that the flower had not been preserved. The only connection I had with the name was a suggestion made to Mr. M'Leay that the specific name, nummuliforme, would very aptly describe the round, flatfish pseudobulbs. I supposed at the time that it was a Dendrobium, the genus Bulbophyllum not being known to me as a genus. But as I never published the name I had no "rights" whatever on the subject. I think that Mr. M'Leay changed my nummuliforme to moniliforme, which I thought not so descriptive. Robert King, Gladesville, Paramatta River, near Sydney, April 1, 1879.