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RB MSS M20, Library, Royal Botanic Gardens Melbourne. 88.10.16Preferred Citation:
Ralph Tate to Ferdinand von Mueller, 1888-10-16. 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/88-10-16>, accessed September 11, 2025
THE UNIVERSITY
ADELAIDE.
October 16, 1888.
My Dear Baron,
Herewith I send a list of South Australian species not represented in my University
Herbarium, not a very large proportion, especially as the more than 1500 species,
which I have, have been collected chiefly by myself.
Also examples of
Cassinia
punctulata
, as far as I have examined, I find one floret with a scale & a well developed pappus,
the examples under examination coming from Mt Remarkable & Yorke Peninsula.
1
In M to R. Tate, 1 October 1888,
M
identified this species with
Humea punctulat
a
,
which he had described from young flowers, and suggested that it be published as
Cassinia punctulata
, which appeared under the authority of M and Tate in Tate (1890).
2
All locations mentioned are in SA.
The localities of the species as indicated by specimens in my Herbarium are: —
1. Kangaroo Island (Cassinia laevis
in my list of Kangaroo Island Plants)
3
Underlined in red by an unknown hand.
4
Tate (1883), p. 162
2. Maitland, Yorke-Peninsula (Humea cassinacea,
Fv.M in Tepper's List of Ardrossan Plants)
5
Underlined in red by an unknown hand.
6
Tepper (
1880a), p. 40.
3. Mount Remarkable, Flinders Range
4. Coonalpyn, 90-mile Desert (Cassinia alasia,
Fv.M. ms., teste Tepper collect.
7
Underlined in red by an unknown hand. No publication of this name has been found, nor has a reference to it been found in a
list of names supplied by M to Tepper. However, in January 1887 Tepper was collecting in the area of the 90 Mile Desert and
there is a specimen dated 5 January 1887 (AD 97623457D) recorded as
Cassinia complanat
a
(which is treated by some authors as a synonym of
C. punctulata; see APNI (accessed 5 April 2023)).
Cassinia punctulata
is listed from this area in Tate (1890), p. 241.
8
based on Tepper's collection
(t
here is no closing bracket
).
As an Appendix to my Notes on the Flora of the Port Lincoln I wish you to send me
a diagnosis of the new
Commerçonia
;
with respect to the new
Brachycome
allied to
decipiens
, I hesitate to describe it, for fear it may escape […]
recognition at your hands.
However, an example of
B. decipiens
for comparison, I should like to receive from you.
9
Commerconia tatei,
published under M's authority in Tate (1889b), p. 82
.
Although dated as read
on
2 October 1888, Tate is known to have inserted details into papers between the meeting
at which it was read and final publication
;
s
ee notes to M to R. Tate
,
1 October 1883
(
in this edition as
83-10-01a
)
.
10
not
deleted.
11
Described as
Brachycome cuneifolia
in Tate (1889b)
, p. 83
; the 'new species recalls
B. decipiens, from which it is distinguished by its winged fruits'.
The Kangaroo Island,
Xanthorrhoea
, grows in the Port Lincoln district, as I suspected; it is abundant on the slopes
of Marble Range.
The Minister of Education has offered to publish my M.S. of a Handbook to the Flora
of South Australia; and I have expressed my willingness to give my services gratuitously;
I shall not know for a few weeks, if its publication has been decided on. The work
will be modest in its pretensions, on about the scale of your Victorian Key, but on
a different Plan.
I expect that my labours will be very much simplified by the use of your book; also
by the gift of plant-species unrepresented in my Herbarium.
12
Published as Tate (1890).
Thanks for the specimen of
L
epilaena
australis
.
The only other addition to the Flora of South Australia which has come under my notice
is Podolepis rhytidochlamys
from Cooper Creek.
13
14
Underlined in red by an unknown hand.
For the last two years, I have not done much active work in botany, through a desire
to push on with the illustrations of the Tertiary Mollusca,
which now occupies all my leisure.
15
Published in two parts, Tate (1888) and Tate (1889).
yrs very regardfully
Ralph Tate
Brachycome decipiens
Cassinia alasia
Cassinia laevis
Cassinia punctulata
Commerçonia
Humea cassinacea
Podolepis rhytidochlamys
Lepilaena australis
Xanthorrhoea