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RBG Kew, Directors' letters, vol. LXXIV, Australia letters 1851-8, letter no. 172. 57.11.15

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Ferdinand von Mueller to William Hooker, 1857-11-15. 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/1850-9/1857/57-11-15-final.odt>, accessed June 4, 2026

Melbourne bot. Garden
15. Nov. 1857.
My dear Sir William
Again the time arrived for the despatch of the monthly mail, by which I beg to forward once more a set of botanical papers. Unfortunately the English mail for this month did not reach us yet, nor did I recieve the pages of your journal alluded to in kind note of August.
1
Letter not found.
I have consequently little else to refer to, but to a few botanical matters. I received with very great pleasure the spec[ia]l issues of botanical papers by the Linnean Society. Unquestionably the divisions of the manyfold treaties laid before this grand body of naturalists, can but tend to render the diffusion of its information more easy and general.
2
In 1857 the Linnean Society split its Journal into a Botanical and a Zoological series to 'afford the opportunity of a more extensive and more speedy issue of … papers' (Presidental Address, 24 May 1856). See Journal of the proceedings of the Linnean Society (1857) p. xx.
I hope Mr Bentham will kindfully compare my North Australian Mitrasacmes (which amount to 17) with the new ones, which he made known by the lately adopted means of the L.S.
3
Bentham (1857), pp. 63–5, 91-2.
Describing from fresh specimens, I was able to employ many excellent characters for distinction which the tender flowers would not offer in a dried state. The almost climbing species from the Victoria River seems to be a new feature in the genus. The section Dichelocalyx embraces a fourth species, many years ago distributed as M. exigua
4
Mitrasacme exigua

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not in APNI (accessed 28 November 2019); but see B59.04.04, p. 130.
(n. sp.) from Spencers Gulf, which differs from the 3 others in a corolla at least twice as long as the calyx. M. pilosa Labill. inhabits the Grampians of Australia felix. A sectional character has been established on M. distylis in our phil. transact.
5
B54.13.06, p. 20.
Mitreola oldenlandioides

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Wall. was found in our vist to Arnhem's Land.
In Prof. Meisners summary of
Chamaelauceae

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6
Meisner (1857).
occur also a few omissions. The occurrence of a Verticordia (V. Wilhelmii, transact. Vict. Inst. I. p.123)
7
B55.13.07.
as far east as Spencers Gulf seems interesting. A definition of the truely handsome
Schuermannia homocanthoides

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was furnished to the Linnaea 1852.
8
B53.04.01.
The collections, formed lately in tropical Australia contain (as mentioned before) several unknown species of
Calycothrix

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, a new genus allied to
Paryphantha

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,
9
Homalocalyx (B57.10.02, p. 309.)
and a single Tryptomene, not unlike to T. micrantha from Bass Straits described already in your Miscellany 1853 by Dr Hooker.
10
J. Hooker (1853), p. 299 & tab. 8.
To Dr Asa Grays kind note I replied briefly by the last mail
11
See M to A. Gray, 15 October 1857.
A collection of 24 kinds of timber specimens has been forwarded to you by order of His Excellency the Governor, and I added two Wardian cases one filled with young shrubs and trees, the other with ferns.
Mr Pamplin did not send a single work ordered before, complete, and the total absence of Lindl. gen. & sp. orchidearum & of your species filicum caused me much disappointment
12
Lindley (1830-40), W. Hooker (1846-64).
To Dr Hooker my warmest thanks for kindfully selecting for me such a fine microscope.
13
MS seems to be complete, but lacks a valediction.