Document information

Physical location:

57.11.00

Plant names

Preferred Citation:

Ferdinand von Mueller to William Hooker, 1857-11. 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//letters/1850-9/1857/57-11-00-final.odt>, accessed June 4, 2026

1
Letter not found. For the text given here, see B59.02.01. George Bentham quoted the extract in his introduction noting, 'The following general observations by Dr. Mueller were contained in the letter to Sir W. Hooker, which accompanied this paper'. The item is dated to November 1857 on the basis of M’s report in M to W. Hooker, 11 October 1857, that 'the elaboration of the sections Uninerves and Brachybotryae are under progress and will probably follow by the next mail.’
The Uninerves, although comprising such a large array of species in the southern latitudes of Australia, are exceedingly rare within the tropics. Indeed, only two desert plants of wide range, A. Sentis (doubtfully combined by Mr. Bentham with A. decora) and A. salicina, Ldl., accompany some of their usual companions as far as North Australia; and only a solitary new one, allied to A. eliptica, was observed in the Gregorian journey. Those of this group, which extend to subtropical latitudes in East Australia, are for the greater part identical with southern forms (for instance,
Acacia falcata

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, penninervis, suaveolens, oleifolia); still A. podalyrifolia
2
podalyriifolia?
and A. prominens, from Moreton Bay and Wide Bay, are not to be found in Australia Felix. The plant referred by Mr. Bentham, in the 'Linnæa,' to the last-mentioned species, is assuredly distinct, and probably A. luxata,
3
A. luxata not found (APNI accessed 24 December 2019); perhaps a misreading by the printer of A. lunata?
Sieber. A new species, of this section, allied to A. vestita, seems to be restricted to the warmer parts of the east coast, while my southern collections exhibit three other unknown kinds. I feel very reluctant to combine our common A. reclinata with what I assumed to be A. leprosa, which is with us a rare species, occurring towards the sources of the Yarra. Unfortunately, many kinds ripen the fruits so rarely, that one of the best specific characters for distinction in this genus also remains often beyond avail. A. imbricata, from Spencer's Gulf, belongs to the Uninerves, not to A. conferta amongst Brunioideae,
4
Brunioidae?
which I noticed near Wide Bay. The habitat "Ponindi," mentioned under A. verniciflora
5
verniciflua?
in the 'Linnæa', vol. xxvi., belongs to A. dodonæifolia, Bauer
6
Ferdinand Bauer.
having, no doubt, collected it on the very spot, near Port Lincoln. A. salicina is remarkable for the scarlet arillus which surrounds the seed, — a character in which, as far as I know, only A. melanoxylon participates.
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and A. halceoides
7
A. halceoides not found (APNI accessed 24 December 2019); perhaps a misreading by the printer of A. hakeoides?
seem combinable. Nearly related to them is A. notabilis, a desert plant of Spencer's Gulf and Lake Torrens, but scarcely referable to A. obtusata, Sieb., a mountain-plant of East Australia. I venture also to deviate from Mr. Bentham's opinion when he unites A. microcarpa (singular for the smallness of its fruit) with A. buxifolia; for the figure in Sir W. Hooker's 'Icones Plantarum' seems to exhibit something very different.
8
W. Hooker (1836 - 1854), vol. 2, plate 164.
The section Brachybotryae is not well represented in the tropics. We observed of it, in Mr. Gregory's expedition, only two new species, — one with winged fruit, the other an Acacia from N.W. Australia, mentioned by Mr. Bentham under A. melanoxylon as imperfectly known from Cunningham's collection, and of which a full description will be found in the accompanying pages.
9
‘Accompanying pages’ MS not found, but see Acacia hemignosta, B59.02.01, pp. 134 - 5.
both show the rather unusual character amongst phyllodineous Acaciæ, of being deprived of the strophiolum. A. complanata and A. venulosa are not found beyond the warmer parts of East Australia. Unless imperfect specimens misled me in judging, I may pronounce that A. pendula and A. sclerophylla extend through Central Australia to Arnhem's Land, where A. translucens was likewise noticed. We possess a common desert-plant in South Australia and Australia Felix, enumerated in the 'Linnæa' (1856) as A. elongata; it seems to me not identical with the Blue Mountain plant, which I have compared, but rather to belong to A. viscidula. A. multinervia is found rarely in this colony; but quite common is A. homalophylla, from Lake Torrens to the Darling and Murray, where A. stenophylla likewise occurs. In a retrospective view it will be seen that 64 well-marked species alone occur in the collections of the North Australian Expedition, of which, after a patient scrutiny, I am obliged to admit 33 as new. By a further addition of some unpublished extratropical kinds, already contained in my former collections, the number of Australian Acacias becomes advanced to beyond 300, notwithstanding that some reductions of former species have been effected on this occasion. Most singular is the vast preponderance of Juliferæ in N. Australia, being nearly equal in number to those of all other sections collectively. Only 4 desert-species traverse Australia from south to north; and 8 only have hitherto been traced from Western Australia into the south-eastern portion of this continent. If, on the contrary, I rightly unite
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with A. diffusa, not one of the Tasmanian species shows itself restricted to that island, except A. axillaris.
Mr. Gregory observes that no pinnate-leaved Acacia is harboured by the interior of West Australia.