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RBG Kew, Kew correspondence, Australia, Mueller, 1871-81, ff. 2-3. 71.01.00

Plant names

Preferred Citation:

Ferdinand von Mueller to Joseph Hooker, 1871-01. 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/1870-9/1871/71-01-00-final.odt>, accessed June 4, 2026

Melbourne bot Garden
jan. 1871
I have sent you, dear Dr Hooker, by the "Hydaspes"
1
Hydaspes 'cleared out' of Melbourne on 4 January 1865; see Argus, 5 January 1871, p. 4.
2 cases with Australian plants in a growing state; and by the "Geo. Thomson" another small case (calico-covered) is also despatched.
2
George Thompson was scheduled to leave Melbourne on 29 December 1870; see Argus, 29 December 1870, p. 4.
The
Phagus Bernaysii

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you may have had from the discoverer, Mr Bernays, but such plants will always be of use for interchanges.
Cordyline Murchisoniae

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flowers when only about a foot high. I am however not quite sure, whether the seedlings now forwarded will prove C. Murchisoniae or an allied species, as several new ones are described in my Fragmenta.
3
M had described three species by the time this letter was written: Cordyline hedychioides, C. manners-suttoniae and C. murchisoniae (B66.12.04, pp. 195-6).
I hope this time we will be lucky in getting the lovely
Prostanthera spinosa

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across to you; if once you have the plant safely there, it could be so easily multiplied from cuttings. It is a charming almost continually flowering dwarf pot-plant.
4
See M to J. Hooker, 23 June 1870 (in this edition as 70-06-23b).
The most valuable of the plants now sent is perhaps
Wittsteinia vacciniacea

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. It reached Edinburgh alive 3 or 4 years ago, but as I have not seen any further word of the plant in the Gardeners Chronicle or in any other horticultural publication, I fear the plant is lost there. It is a truely subalpine plant which requires to be grown among mossy irrigated rocks.
5
Wittsteinia is marked in the margin with a cross and the paragraph is marked with a line in the margin.
As Mr [Man]
6
Probably Gustavus Mann, known to be a member of the gardening staff at Kew in the 1860s (John Smith, List of gardeners at Kew, 1840s – 1860s, f. 226. RBG Kew Archives); records for 1870s are incomplete.
has such a predilection for alpine horticulture and has such experience in the treatment of alpine plants, it might be well to entrust the Wittsteinia to that Gentleman. It is readily propagated from cuttings. No doubt the plant could be naturalized on rocky forest brooks of Britain
Your regardful
Ferd. von Mueller.
21/1/71
Mr Winter has very kindly brought me the large glass box with miscellaneous plants. Many were dead and most were in the Garden before, as you may see on reference to the two Garden Indices appended to former printed papers of mine.
7
MS annotation against this paragraph: 'Sent at Mr Winter's desire'. For published indexes of plants growing in the Melbourne Botanic Garden, see B60.01.01 and B65.10.01. A further index was prepared but not printed: see the manuscript 'Garden-Catalogue 1868' in this edition. No evidence that Hooker received a copy of the latter has been found.
The willows of the other case are a real boon ! I hope to establish 50 of the kind.
8
M had requested Hooker's help in enhancing his collection of willows (Salix); see M to J. Hooker, 23 March 1866 (in this edtion as 66-03-23a).
They will be also valuable on account of the correct names . I am working among
Coniferae

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of the Garden lately. What a horrid loss of time to correct the absurd names, under which seeds and young plants are so often received from places, where no such correct nomenclature exists, as at Kew.
Parlatore has kept up too many genera (Such as
Chamaecyparis

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[&c])
9
(Such as ....[&c] is a marginal note with its intended position marked with an asterisk.
among the Conifers.
10
Parlatore (1868).
The
Todea

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s I hope to procure next month, and I will also soon return your Glass case.