Document information

Physical location:

A644, Mitchell Library, State Library of New South Wales, Sydney. 81.10.22a

Plant names

Preferred Citation:

Ferdinand von Mueller to John Buchanan, 1881-10-22 [81.10.22a]. 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/81-10-22a>, accessed September 11, 2025

22/10/81.
I like to invoke your aid, dear Mr Buchanan,
1
John Buchanan (1819-1898).
in reference to the elucidation of a point of interest, concerning Raoulias & allied plants, placed by Sir Joseph Hooker in
Gnaphalium

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. When you are botanizing, particularly when in the Alps, will you kindly endeavour to ascertain, whether a dimorphism or dioecious state occurs in any of them? I noticed as far back as 1854 in the Australian Alps, that
Antennaria nubigena

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(or
Raoulia catipes

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or
Gnaphalium Catipes

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) occurs in a semi dioecious state, some plants having nearly all flowers female & fertile, some nearly all male (or bisexual) and sterile. This affects very much the limitation of Antennaria, Raoulia and
Anaphalis

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and
Leontopodium

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and if you would look over the full series of specimens in your museum you might find out a similar dimorphism in several N.Z. Composites of the genus Raoulia,
Gnaphalium

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&
Helichrysum

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. In such a case I should be glad for a few specimens of the respective plants, my material here from N.Z. being very scanty. My specimens of
Raoulia glabra

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seem to indicate dimorphic states. In Raoulia Catipes you will see an evident difference of the pappus also of ♀ & ♂ fl.
Have you any good fruit-specimens of
Sporadanthus

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now?
Regardfully your
Ferd. von Mueller.
To what height ascend plants in your Alps? The highest notations seem to be 7000' in Hookers works on N.Z. plants, but in the latitude of Mt Egmont they are sure to ascend several thousand feet higher and perhaps so on Mt Cook &c also.
Snow melts on the summits of the Australian Alps still at 7000 feet, in about the same latitude as Mr Egmont, but our alps do not rise higher. We have still at 7000 a varied herbaceous & glumaceous and acotyledonous vegetation, though shrubs & trees cease at 6000-6500, according to the middayside or otherwise of the places. Of course on the north side of Mt Egmont the vegetation would advance higher than on on the southside, and on the slopes higher than on the ravines. Has ever anyone been as high up on Mt Egmont? Perhaps you may be able to solve this interesting question this summer, and may gain new species at the same time
2
See M to J. von Haast, 22 October 1881 (in this edition as 81-10-22c), for a similar question.
At what height ceases with you the vegetation of trees & tall shrubs?
If you have any dimorphous Raoulias, at hand, kindly send them at once, as I have a paper on the subject under elaboration.
3
B82.13.12, read to the Royal Society of Tasmania on 15 November 1881. In that paper M commented that he was 'convinced that some Raoulias of New Zealand will have to be transferred likewise to
Leontopodium

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, notably the somewhat dimorphic R. glabra'. In M to J. Buchanan, 30 November 1881 (in this edition as 81-11-30a), he acknowledged receiving specimens by mid-November and stated that he hoped to have some leisure 'to investigate carefully the Raoulia question'. No report of such an investigation has been found, and Allan (1982) maintains the genus and does not refer to any such view published by Mueller (cited from on-line version, accessed 20 March 2022).
The flower heads should not be too young.