The correspondence of Ferdinand von Mueller: 25, WILTON PLACE. S.W. ¶ June 9 /69 ¶ My dear Sir ¶ ¶ Since I last wrote two boxes have come from you one (I believe per Somersetshire) some little time since and the other per Wellesley just arrived...

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Physical location:

RB MSS M4, Library, Royal Botanic Gardens Melbourne. 69.06.09a

Plant names

Chloanthes
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Disoon
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Eremodendron
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Eremophila Cunninghamii
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Eremophila alternifolia
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Eremophila myoporoides
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Eremophila oppositifolia
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Myoporineae
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Myoporum debile
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Myoporum deserti
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Oxera
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Pholidia
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Pityrodia
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Pseudopholidia
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Quoya
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Sentis
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Sparthothamnus
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Stenochilus
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Verbenaceae
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Preferred Citation:

George Bentham to Ferdinand von Mueller, 1869-06-09 [69.06.09a]. 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/1860-9/1869/69-06-09a-final.odt>, accessed June 4, 2026

25, WILTON PLACE. S.W.

June 9 /69

My dear Sir

Since I last wrote two boxes have come from you one (I believe per Somersetshire) some little time since and the other per Wellesley just arrived

I have finished the and the latter have taken a long time because I had carefully to examine the ovaries — I have now packed up all your specimens and they go in a box they are sending from Kew with some other specimens for you I trust they will reach you safe.

In revising I have thought the best course is to limit to the species with decurrent leaves which have a distinct habit with appreciable characters in the corolla and anthers and to reduce the s with the non decurrent western to which has in every respect all the characters.

There is no doubt you are right in transferring to

M's discussion of in B68.03.04, pp 151-8, includes the transfer of this species and the proposal to unite Teucridium, p. 153.

but I cannot agree in uniting Teucridium which has the 4-lobed ovary and 4-lobed fruit separating into dry nuts of and is in my opinion as distinct from Spartothamnus as any two genera of .

must I presume be kept distinct from as they differ in the aestivation of the corolla as well as in the inferior radicle

The following discussion is responding to M's treatment of (Myoporinae in M's usage) in B68.03.04, pp. 147-51.

As to the genera of they certainly do run much one into another. There appear to me to be four main types

Myoporum Stamens nearly equal. Ovary of 2, 3, 4 or more perfect cells with one ovule in each

. Stamens didynamous. Ovary of 2 cells with 1 or 2 ovules in each. Endocarp 2- or 4 -celled with 1 seed in each

Eremophila Stamens didynamous. Ovary of 2 cells with 4 or 6 ovules in each in superposed pairs. Calyx lobes not overlapping at the base. Endocarp separating into 4 one-seeded nuts. Exocarp almost dry

Stamens and Ovary of Eremophila. Calyx much imbricate at the base. Endocarp very hard and four-celled. Exocarp succulent

But these run into each other especially the two last. has a two-celled ovary with two ovules in each Two or three species of have only one pair of ovules in each cell and some species have rather ambiguous fruit. Browns

R. Brown (1810), p. 518 discusses Eremophila.

goes better in and others are not quite certain I therefore follow you in uniting and with Eremophila but I think must be retained (including and ) as being as distinct from Eremophila as from Myoporum without any positive limits from either — the latter of course including .

Your

B65.04.01, p. 23.

seems to me to be a true Myoporum only differing from M. deserti in the larger flowers. These two species differ from all other Australian Myopora in having constantly regular pentandrous flowers with the base of the corolla lobes perfectly glabrous whilst in all other Australian species I always find only four perfect stamens and only exceedingly rarely (indeed only once in the very numerous buds I have opened) a fifth imperfect one and always even where described as glabrous I find some hairs at the base of the corolla-lobes.

Browns looks very different from E. Cunninghamii although you may be right in considering it as an extreme form. The leaves are almost terete as in E. alternifolia — but I shall compare them again.

Bentham (1863-78), vol . 5, p. 20, treated E. cunninghamii as a synonym of E. oppositifolia.

Ever yours sincerely

George Bentham

I go abroad next week till September

The journey included periods working in various herbaria; see B. Jackson (1906), pp. 213-5.