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RBG Kew, Directors' letters, vol. LXXIV, Australia letters 1851-8, letter no. 138. 54.04.28Preferred Citation:
Ferdinand von Mueller to William Hooker, 1854-04-28. 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/54-04-28>, accessed May 18, 2024
Melbourne bot. Garden 28. April 1854.
Sir William
I can not deprive myself of the pleasure of directing a few lines to you, as his Excellency
Mr LaTrobe promises with his usual kindness to deliver them, together with about 100
kinds of seeds and some specimens, the latter when new accompanied by their corresponding
descriptions.
Only few of these I have been able to get ready since my return lately from the alps.
I had the honor of adressing communications to you before I left for my last expedition
and during this from the Grampians and the Murray.
A large set of manuscript, my report
and a considerable number of specimens and some seeds has been forwarded to you by
his Excellency and, I trust, reached you in safety.
1
La Trobe had submitted his resignation as Lieutenant Governor in December 1852 but
it was many months before he was relieved of duty. He eventually sailed for England
on 6 May 1854.
2
See also M to W. Hooker, 21 November 1853; M to W. Hooker, 5 January 1854; and W. Hooker to M, 9 April 1854.
3
B53.10.01.
4
These were presumably the materials to which M referred in M to W. Hooker, 18 October 1853, which that letter was intended to accompany. However, the letter did not reach Kew
until August 1854 and the packages
were
also delayed
, Hooker reporting in April 1854 that he had not yet received them (see W. Hooker
to M, 9 April 1854)
.
My index of plants from Victoria comprises now between 1700 and 1800 species, so that
I doubt more than 2-300 should be left undiscovered within the boundary of this colony;
if we exclude the microscopic fungi. Not all species however have been gained for
the collection as the extremely dry season at my late arrival at the Murray from the
Grampians had parched the desert-plants up to such a degree, that I never would have
been enabled to recognize the little annuals without being previously acquainted with
them from South Australia. However I may hope, that after all the not unconsiderable
share of additional plants to your herbarium will give you some satisfaction. Only
a small part of the collections have yet arrived in Melbourne, so that the mainpart
for you, Sir William, will be only despatched some months hereafter.
My last year's observations are perhaps now under your direction passing the press.
And Notwithstanding you may, Sir William, expect a large set of additional manuscripts I would pray, that
every part as soon as it arrives and as soon as it is by your revision approved should
be published at once, because my sendings of bot. papers may be lost on the way home
(as happened with a bulky packet of descriptions of South Australian plants),
but also the scientific part of the public here is eagerly waiting for my publications, which, after some years may be collected into
a separate and improved work.
5
In my letter from the Grampians I stated, that misled by bad specimens I had fallen
into the almost unpardonable error of describing a species of Coleostylis, there since
5 years once more seen in a living state as Polypompholyx adenotricha; I ask from
your kindness to omit this pagina from the prints.
6
The request would have been received too late to prevent the name being published
in B54.01.01, p.166;
Polypompholyx adenotricha
has not been found elsewhere.
My next report will give some more extensive notes on the alpine vegetation of New
Holland, and I promise, should time permit to compose a special article thereon similar
to those which you already published.
The universal Flora of Australia, the plan of which I had the honor to communicate
to you, lays much on my heart.
I would feel very very happy if a first rank botanist there should be inclined to
supply my manuscripts for it with additional descriptions from Cunninghams Drummonds
and other collections. — A work to be considered only approximately complete will
and can not be accomplished in this century, yet I think we might venture well enough
to collect the scattered notes critically, so as to furnish the public here with an
book, by which the study of our vegetation becomes less difficult.
7
See M to W. Hooker, 3 February 1853.
A journey for a summer to Western Austral[ia]
to the Moreton bay districts and to Central Australia respectively will furnish me
with materials for such a work to some extent[,] but how much could it be improved
by notes from collections deposited in England For further aid I require yet some
works and I took therefore already the liberty to solicit, that such as you woul[d]
recommend would be send out by your bookseller, who would receive the amount here
on order.
8
editorial addition
— obscured by binding. All square brackets in the following paragraph have this meaning.
I posses completely: DC. pr., DC. Syst, Lehm. pl. Priess, Walp. anu., R. Br. works,
Kunth enum. I-IV, but neither the learned Dr Hookers fl. Zeal. Nov., neither your
celebrated journal (except vol. for 1842) nor your valuable icones. I would have been
also so glad to get Turczaninows and Asa Grays publications on Drummonds plants. Universal
[on]
Cryptogamia I have only Acharius methodes:
Rare
Australian specimens would most assuredly prove very valuable to me; but it is not
easy and very expensive to get them. Relying on your maste[r] judgements and your
advice, which so many have enjoyed since the last 30 years I leave to you entirely
the further selection of book[s.] Seeds of Australian plants would be accepted for
our garden very thankfully
9
editorial addition
— obscured by binding. All square brackets in the following paragraph have this meaning.
10
The works mentioned are: A. P. de Candolle (1823-73), A. P. de Candolle (1818-21), Lehmann (1844-7), Walpers (1848-71), Brown (1825-34), Kunth (1833-50),
J. Hooker (1853-5), W. Hooker (1834-42), W. Hooker (1842-8), W. Hooker (1849-57), W. Hooker (1836-54), A. Gray (1851), A. Gray (1852); Tourczaninow [Turczaninow] (1846), Turczaninow (1847), Tourczaninow [Turczaninow] (1849), Turczaninow (1851), Turczaninow (1852), Turczaninow (1852a), Turczaninow (1853), Acharius (1803). For publication of Drummond's plants, see Marchant (1990).
Wishing that providence may grant you health and long live for the benefit of science
and your admirers I conclude this letter as
your most humble servant
Ferd Mueller
Mr Dallachi
desires me to acknowledege in his name your communication and states that he [shall]
strictly attend to your request
11
i.e. J. Dallachy.
12
Mr Dallachi ... your request.
is a marginal note situated next to the paragraph beginning
In my letter from the Grampians ... less difficult.
Sir W. J Hooker, K. H.
&c &c &c
Coleostylis
Polypompholyx adenotricha