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RBG Kew, Kew correspondence, Australia, Mueller,1858-70. f. 23. 68.12.00a

Plant names

Preferred Citation:

Ferdinand von Mueller to George Bentham, 1868-12 [68.12.00a]. 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/1860-9/1868/68-12-00a-final.odt>, accessed May 15, 2026

1
MS annotation in unknown hand:'Vol iv'.
The correspondent is identified as Bentham since the comments refer to Bentham's treatment of the species in Bentham (1863-78), vol. 4, on the pages indicated. Dated to December 1868 as the last likely date it could have been sent by reference to G. Bentham to M, 2 October 1868 and G. Bentham to M, 29 October 1868, which indicate that the sheets corresponding to Bentham (1863-78), vol. 4, pp. 369–416 were ready, but not received as clean proofs, by 2 October, and that the sheets ready by 29 October were sent with that mail. M to G. Bentham, 1 January 1869, includes responses to the letter from Bentham of 29 October.
353.
Mitrasacme polymorpha

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grows also on the Genoa River in Victoria
2
Bentham had not given any locality record from Victoria; the closest locality was a collection attributed to M from Twofold Bay, on the NSW south coast and not far from the Genoa River. That is also the southernmost location given by M in B68.03.04, p. 131.
354.
M. elata. The South Alligator River is in Arnhems Land.
3
Bentham included Leichhardt’s collection from ‘table land of South Alligator river’ as a Queensland locality record.
359.
M. paradoxa occurs in N.S Wales on the River Murray.
4
Bentham had not given any locality record for NSW and the collections listed from Victoria and SA, mostly M’s, were not from localities near the Murray. M did not include distribution data with his mention of this species in B59.04.04, p. 130, and was unspecific in B68.03.04, p. 131.
365
M. nuda figured in the volume of my lithograms, is a Victorian species on the Murray.
5
B65.02.06, plate 60, illustrates Logania nuda, treated under that name by Bentham on p. 365. M appears to have written ‘M. nuda’ in error for ‘L. nuda.’ Bentham gave no locality record for Victoria or SA, and cited only M’s description in B59.04.04, p. 129, which listed a collection made by J. Dallachy ‘in collibus arenosis prope Kulkyne ad flumen Murray’, i.e. near the Hattah Lakes in NW Victoria.
It occurs without doubt also in S. Australian territory, but as yet I have seen from there no specimens.
371.
Sebaea albidiflora

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is figured in the lithograms.
6
B65.02.06, plate 61. Bentham cited only ‘Hook. f. Fl. Tasm ii. 367’ (i.e. J. Hooker (1860)) as a secondary literature source in addition to M’s description in B55.09.02, p. 46, republished in B56.06.01, p. 164.
373.
Gentiana montana

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. A very careful diagnosis appeared in the little book on the vegetation of the Chatham Islands. It adscends to 6500 feet (if not 7000') in the Australian Alps.
7
B65.02.06, pp 40-41, where M commented that the plant was also 'abundant on meadows of the Australian Alps at an elevation of 4000-6000'.' Bentham cited five secondary references, but did not include M’s treatment, under Gentiana saxosa (in which he had included G. Montana, arguing that 'the number of described Gentianae must be largely reduced'). Bentham’s distribution data for Victoria included the information attributed to M that it was found ‘at an elevation of 4000 to 5000 ft.’
374.
Villarsia. I pointed out that
Menyanthus

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8
Menyanthes?
differs in wingless corollas and 3-sected leaves.
9
B68.03.04, p. 137, in entry for Villarsia crenata.
I cannot well see how
Limnanthemum

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can be maintained unless we form of
Ipomoea reptans

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a genus also.
10
Bentham argued (p. 378) that if the reunification of Li mnantheum with Vi llarsia proposed by M were followed, it ‘would entail re-uniting the whole tribe ... into Menyanthes, which would then be divided into sections corresponding to the present genera, a course which does not appear to be of much practical advantage, whilst it would add above twenty names to the synonymy’. M had reduced Limantheum to a section of Villarsis in his treatment of Gentianeae in B68.03.04, pp. 136– 142. See Lucas (2001) for a discussion of the differences between M’s and Bentham’s criteria for generic status.
Villarsia calthifolia

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I saw also in the rivulets at the bottom of the Porongerup
11
WA.
382.
Hydrolea zeylanica

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and H. spinosa are both described in the Fragmenta V. 192 where some characters in reference to the seeds and sepals are given.
12
B66.12.04, p. 192, under the names
Hydrolea spinosa

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and H. Ceilonica. Although Bentham cites M as the collector, he does not give a reference to the entry in the Fragmenta.
393.
Heliotropium Curassavicum

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on many places in Victoria and N. S. Wales on the Murray River.
13
Bentham gives for the NSW locality ‘Darling river, Neilson, Mrs. Ford’ and for Victoria, ‘Wimmera, Dallachy’. In B68.02.03, p. 116, M had included the Murray River in his distribution note. M is making the point that the south side of the Murray, in Victoria, also has the species.
394.
Heliotropium Europaeum

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, also in Victoria on the Murray.
14
Bentham did not include any locality for Victoria but cited M for the NSW distribution ‘Lagoons on the Murray, Murrumbidgee, and Darling Rivers’; this corresponds with M’s location note in B68.02.03, p. 116.
402.
Halgania strigosa

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was published in the Linnaea 1847, where as H. cyanea appeared in the Bog.
15
Bot.?
Reg. vol XXV already 1839.
16
Bentham treated
Halgania cyanea

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as a synonym of H. strigosa; the author of H. strigosa was given as ‘Schlect. Linnaea, xx, 614’ [published October 1847] and that of H. cyanea as ‘Lindl. Swan Riv. App. 40’ [published 1839]. M is arguing that the earliest name published for the species being synonymized should be preferred.
406
Eritrichium australasicum

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occurs in N.S. Wales on the River Murray.
17
Bentham gave no locality record for NSW and did not include the Murray River among the Victorian locations given.
408
Rochelia Maccoya

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is also a Victorian and very likely a S. Australian plant.
18
The only locality Bentham gave was ‘N. S. Wales. Murray Desert towards the Darling river, F. Mueller’; this corresponds to the distribution in B59.04.04, p. 115, under M’s original description as Maccoya plurisepalea, cited by Bentham.
409.
Cynoglossum suaveolens

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is common in South Australia.
Cynoglossum Australe

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occurs in South Australia between Rivoli Bay and Mount Gambier, where I found it already 1848.
19
Bentham gave no SA distribution for these species; M mentioned a SA locality for
Cynoglossum suaveolens

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, but not for C. australe in his notes on these species in B68.02.03, p. 115.
415.
Ipomoea Davenporti

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is lately found by Dr Martin on the Glenelg River.
20
Bentham cited the fragmentary specimens collected by McDouall Stuart in the ‘Davenport range’ [near Tennant Creek, NT], the locality from which M had recently described the species in B68.02.03, p. 97. The Glenelg River referred to is a small river in the north-west of WA, not the river by the same name, part of which is the border between SA and Vic. The fragmentary specimen at the National Herbarium in Melbourne (MEL 2273331) under the modern name Merremia davenportii bears a label in M’s hand: ‘
Ipomoea Davenporti

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Ferd v Mueller | Glenelg River’ and is presumably the one collected by Dr. Martin. There are other specimens in MEL that Dr. James Martin collected from the same area.
417.
Ipomoea hederacea

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. Of this Dr Hooker has this year given in the Bot. Mag. a beautiful plate, illustrative of the limbate variety, raised from Australian seeds transmitted by me.
21
In the main entry Bentham cited four secondary references for the species but did not include the Botanical magazine plate (J. Hooker (1865-1904), vol. 94, t. 5720 as Pharbitis var. limbate, dated 1 July 1868), which was however cited in a note on var. limbata under the distribution notes. Since Bentham sent final unbound sheets as they were ready, M presumably missed the citation or wrote the comment as he read and did not delete it.
429.
Convolvulus erubescens

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. To this belongs C. crispifolius, Linnaea 1852.
22
Bentham lists a number of synonyms and suggests that three other names ‘all referred here by F. Mueller, but of which I have seen no specimens’ should probably be included. None of these include C. crispifolius, described by M in B53.04.01, p. 423. M does not note this synonym in his entry for C. erubescens in B68.02.03, p. 99.
430.
C. marginatus occurs in the vallies of the Mountains near Melbourne.
23
The locality records Bentham gave for Victoria are ‘Snowy and Broadribb [sic = Brodribb] rivers, F. Mueller’, both in East Gippsland. M gave a broad distribution record in B68.02.03, p. 99.
431.
C. sepium. In many part of South Australia.
24
Bentham does not give any locality record for SA. M gave a broad distribution record in B68.02.03, p. 99.