Ferdinand von Mueller

MS found inside a fragment packet with a specimen of Santalum murrayanum (MEL 0002594) which, however, is very unlikely to be associated with the subject of this letter. No specimen of S. murrayanum at MEL was collected by Woolls; its range does not include areas near the NSW coast; and it is extremely unlikely to have been referred to by a common name of 'myrtle'. The plant to which M was referring is most likely to have been Myrtus melastomiodes,  which M described in B59.02.03, acknowledging receiving its fruits from Woolls (p. 77). Specimen MEL 2063967, undated, is flowers and fruit from Woolls. M must have written the note after he returned to Melbourne in July 1857. B59.02.03 was reported as in preparation in October 1858 (M to J. O'Shannasy, 24 October 1858), and the MS was transmitted to the Government Printer during November 1858 (M to J. O'Shanassy, December 1858 [in this edition as 58-12-00]). Unless M added to the text at proof stage, the latest plausible date for the note is September 1858, and it is numbered on this basis.