16/10/89
Let me ask you, dear Mr Dyer, to express to Sir Joseph my grateful recognition of
the graceful manner, in which he alluded to me, when publishing an other Eucalypt
in the Bot. Magaz.
His words are most encouraging to me in many ways, so also in horticultural efforts.
It was
not
my intention at first, to write specially about this new illustration of Euc., but
on further consideration I think it best, to do so, because this Eucalyptus was cultivated
already by Dehnhardt about 50 years ago as E. linearis, and seems to have held its
ground in S European culture ever since. Therefore some Botanists from there, visiting
Kew, might recognize it as known in the Italian Gardens. I have never seen this plant
either wild, nor have I ever received an indigenous specimen from any collector. It
seems to have originated in humid culture under peculiar circumstances. My own impression
is, that it must be reckoned among the forms of Euc. amygdalina. It is remarkable
for its flaccidity of branchlets and leaves, whereas E. stricta received its name
for their rigidity. This characteristic is much lost in a delineation, such as the
Eucalyptography offers,
and thus it would be very difficult to recognize the differences, unless both plants
were in a living state before the observer. You will likely find the leaves very much
dotted with pellucid oil-glands, as is the case in an original specimen from Dehnhardt.
If you do not receive of each of the Plants, brought from the N.G. Highlands by Sir
Will. Macgregor,
a specimen, it will be, because in many instances the material is so scanty, that
it barely suffices for analytic purposes. The descriptions of the whole will — I trust
— be through the press by the end of the month
Always regardfully your
Ferd. von Mueller
