Ferdinand von Mueller

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MS envelope front: ' On her Maj. Service | Edward P. Ramsay Esq. | Dobroyde | near | Sydney | Ferd Mueller, FRS.' Front stamped Chief Secretary's Office, Victoria, and Melbourne, 14 March 1867.

Stategarden 14/3/67.

Yesterday, dear Mr Ramsay, I received the fine series of ferns from the New Hebrides, collected by my old travelling companion Richards.

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H. Richards, who was a stockman on the North Australian Exploring Expedition, 1855-6? An 'H. Richards' is reported (Sydney mail, 14 June 1873, p. 745) as having been a botanical collector in the South Sea Islands.

I will gladly name them, but as it will in some instances require critical comparison, you must kindly allow a little time, for at this moment I am preparing a portion of the material for the fourth volume of the plants of Australia,

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i.e. Bentham (1863-78), vol. 4, published in 1868.

& the intercolonial Exhibition duties

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Intercolonial Exhibition of Australasia, Melbourne, 1866-7.

have brought much other work in arrear.

I would not advise Richards to go to the Chatham Islands, because on my suggestion Judge Travers sent his son there (at an expense of nearly £300 - -) & thus I published 2 years ago a full account of the vegetation,

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B64.10.02.

which beyond

Myositidium nobile

Search for Myositidium nobile in

• This website
• Australian Plant Name Index

contains nothing very ornamental.

Could Richards not manage to go to New Guinea,

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Guinea above Caledonia deleted.

to the German missionary station? Pray give him my best regards. What will be the price of a full set of Richards' plants.