Document information

Physical location:

MEL 684132, National Herbarium of Victoria, Royal Botanic Gardens Melbourne. 68.07.00b

Plant names

Preferred Citation:

Ferdinand von Mueller to [Joseph Hooker], 1868-07 [68.07.00b]. 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/1860-9/1868/68-07-00b-final.odt>, accessed June 13, 2026

1
Note found with an udated specimen of Pteris feliciennae (MEL 684132) collected by John Dallachy at Rockingham Bay, Qld. Annotated 'Recd. 9/1868 = tripartita I believe'in a hand resembling that of J. G. Baker, fern specialist at Kew. M normally corresponded with the director, Joseph Hooker, rather than direct to other staff at Kew. The correspondent is therefore conjectured to be Hooker, although no mention of any Pteris or allusion to sending or returning an enclosure has been found with any letter between Hooker and M in 1868 or 1869. Hooker did not routinely annotate M's letters with date of receipt or response, but M to J. Hooker, 10 September 1868 is annotated 'Ansd Nov 10/68', suggesting a transit time of around two months at this period. That assessment is consistent with 1868 letters between M and G. Bentham that mention receipt of dated letters. The fragment is therefore dated to July as the latest it is likely to have been sent.
Pteris Feliciennae

Search for Pteris Feliciennae in

Ferd. v Mueller
2
Described by M in B66.02.01, p. 124.
My only specimen in fruit, which therefore I would like to have again. It requires comparison with RBr’s P. nitida, omitted in the synopsis.
3
W. Hooker & Baker (1865-8).
It appears as if this were a lateral pinna of a larger fern; but it is not so, as a barren specimen clearly shows.