The correspondence of Ferdinand von Mueller: 25, WILTON PLACE, S.W. ¶ March 1866 ¶ My dear Sir ¶ ¶ Your second box of Compositae (Aster etc) has safely arrived per Yorkshire and has reached Kew. ¶ ¶ Your letter of the 25th Decr ¶ reached me t...

Document information

Physical location:

RB MSS M4, Library, Royal Botanic Gardens Melbourne. 66.03.19

Plant names

Araliaceae
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Aster
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Astrotriche
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Celastrus bilocularis
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Compositae
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Didiscus pilosa
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Didisus
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Dimetopia pusilla
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Eucalyptus colossea
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Eucalyptus diversicolor
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Eugenia Wilsoni
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Euphorbiaceae
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Hedera helix
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Homalium pentandrum
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Hydrocotyle
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Irvingia
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Laurineae
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Mackinlaya
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Melaleuca Moorei
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Melaleuca pentagona
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Myrtaceae
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Rubiaceae
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Trachymene australis
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Trachymene pilosa
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Umbelliferae
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Preferred Citation:

George Bentham to Ferdinand von Mueller, 1866-03-19. 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/1860-9/1866/66-03-19-final.odt>, accessed June 4, 2026

25, WILTON PLACE, S.W.

March 1866

Since the last part of th e letter is dated 19 March, the letter as a whole has been assigned this date on the basis that this was when Bentham finished writing it.

My dear Sir

Your second box of ( etc) has safely arrived per Yorkshire and has reached Kew.

Your letter of the 25th Decr

M to G. Bentham, 25 December 1865 (in this edition as 65-12-25d).

reached me the day after last post day — In reply I find I cannot dispense with for the third volume — and I must say considering my age and the consequent precariousness of my life it is better that I should proceed as far as I can with the Flora which must in the first instance be worked up in this country for the sake of identifying old species, than to delay it for supplements which are the less wanted as you have been publishing the novelties to be added in your Fragmenta — and which at any rate you can do at least as well as myself.

and under our arrangement cannot possibly come into the third volume — and besides it would be very inconsiderate to meddle with till the volume of the Prodromus now printing is out.

J. Müller (1866).

The Melaleuca you sent a specimen of from the Melbourne garden as M. Moorei is the commonest form of M. pentagona (with narrow leaves)

In his letter of 25 December to which Bentham is responding, M asked for the Melaleuca he had sent to be named, if new, for Dr William McCrae, not for anyone named Moore. No Melaleuca species named for either McCrea or Moore is listed in APNI (accessed 4 July 2020).

The Eugenias will be returned in a box now packing with etc. I have not altered the E. Wilsoni

E. Wilsonii ?

I fear it is too late now to alter into E. colossea — the former name being published in your Fragmenta will be adopted by botanists whatever name may be subsequently given to it and a new name would only add to the confusion of the overcharged synonymy.

You send a plant as Homalium ?pentandrum.

The name could not be found (APNI, accessed 4 July 2020).

I find the ovary 2-celled with 2 erect ovules in each cell. It appears to me to be a Celastrus very near C. bilocularis but a little different in petals and inflorescence, the specimen is however not sufficient to speak with certainty

I put in but cannot agree with Seemann in removing from .

Seemann (1863), pp. 278-80.

Your is I think a very good genus although monotypic — but is much better in Hedera where you first put it. As to what Seemann says of the ovary being more inferior than in

Seemann (1865), p. 201, note.

I have had vertical sections of the two side by side without detecting the slightest difference in this respect. — Seemann has a good deal of cleverness and writes well but dissects very little and takes a good deal upon credit or from external examination.

19th March

The box I mentioned was sent off a few days ago. I presume the bill of lading will be sent to you this mail.

I must beg you to make one correction in the — It having been shown that Didiscus DC (including Dimetopia) is the true Trachymene Rudge I was obliged to adopt that name but I had overlooked that is Sm. consequently which I had called T. pilosa must have another specific name and I have now called it T. australis

I have finished the greater part of and hope to get through the remainder this week so as to commence upon next week

I took the to the printers three days since and hope to have already three or four sheets to send you next mail — after the first fortnight I expect to get two sheets a week through the press

Yours very sincerely

George Bentham

Dr Mueller

I trust if the remaining are not yet sent off you will kindly do so immediately in order not to delay the volume.