Document information

Physical location:

A4496, Mitchell Library, State Library of New South Wales, Sydney. 71.01.31

Plant names

Preferred Citation:

Ferdinand von Mueller to Louisa Calvert, 1871-01-31. 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/1870-9/1871/71-01-31-final.odt>, accessed June 4, 2026

1
Formerly Louisa Atkinson.
31/1/71
Not very long ago, dear Madam, I got the select plants, which you kindly sent through our good Mr Woolls to me, and of which I now furnish the names. Several give us new localities , and these will be quoted with the name of the accomplished finder.
2
Very little of Louisa Calvert's correspondence survives (see P. Clarke (1990), pp. 226-7), but it is known that her correspondence with M was more extensive than has been found. She quoted a letter from M in a newspaper article,  'A voice from the country. Among the Murrumbidgee limestones',  Sydney morning herald , 11 May 1870, p. 2, where she reports collecting ferns and being told by M that 'the locality of P[teris] longifolia will be a new one'.
I hope Mr Calvert will not be angry with me, for not doing more for him respecting the Angoras, wished by him. But I am almost powerless in this matter, for altho' I am Senior Vice President at the Acclimation-Society since its existence, and altho I hold free trade principles at the broadest base, the majority of my colleagues on the Acclim Council want to retain the Angoras in Victoria, a very large sum of money having been spent on them by our Society, to import them. I sent on my own impulse a pair to Sir Will Denison about 12 years ago (before the Society existed) and from that pair is the flock now so much increased under Mr Blacks care in your colony.
3
Probably John Black, whose breeding of Angora goats was reported at meetings of the New South Wales Acclimatisation Society from 1862.
Tell Mr Calvert, please, that a little preliminary ride is to be effected into the interior by a Surveyor, Mr Birch, of the Thomson River,
4
Qld.
to see whether the insane survivor of Leichhardts party can not be brought to the settlement.
5
Charles Birch was about to embark on a search for a supposed survivor from Leichhardt's last expedition; see M to C. Birch, 29 August 1870 (in this edition as 70-08-29a) and M to C. Birch, 14 February 1871 (in this edition as 71-02-14a).
When all my anxieties will have passed, I hope to work on the grasses and rushes for the 6th vol of the Flora.
6
Bentham (1863-78), vol. 6 of which was published in 1873.
If you could favor me with any of these plants, particularly rushes and sedges, from your thus far unknown locality you would be certain to add again to the material for the work. Dr Hooker always asks me to send him seeds of
Loranthaceae

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for cultivation at Kew. If you should pass the
Atkinsonia

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in fruit at any time, pray bear kindly his request in remembrance. I believe that this beautiful & remarkable plant could be propagated from cuttings under a bell glass, if it once was raised at Kew.
With gratitude & best regards for you & Mr Calvert
Ferd von Mueller
The war
7
Franco-Prussian war, 1870-71.
has upset almost scientific literary work in Germany or at least brought it for a time to a stand still. So Prof Moebius tells me by last mail.
8
Letter not found.
But your fine drawings are all safe and will probably be sent to Prof Krauss in Stuttgart (a special friend of mine) for the Royal Museum there with a view of literary utilisation at the first favorable opportunity.
1.
Anthocercis albicans

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All. Cunningham.
12.
Choretrum lateriflorum

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RBr.
5.
Calycothrix tetragona

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Labill.
21.
Mirbelia reticulata

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Sm
10.
Leptospermum parvifolium

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Smith.
6
Logania floribunda

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Br.
7
Eriostemon (Phebalium) lepidotus Sprengel.
13
Leptomeria acerba

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Br.
2
Philotheca Australis

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Budge.
11.
Ionidium filiforme

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F.v.M.
16
Styphelia (Leucopogon) virgata Labill. also 15.
17.
Styphelia (Leucopogon) ericoides Labill.
14
Epacris paludosa

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RBr.
19.
Callitris

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(of the section
Frenela

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) of which I should be glad to see the fruit (& flowers)
3.
Boronia polygalifolia

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Sm. var trifoliolata.
4
Boronia anemonifolia

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, A. Cunningh
9
Kunzea capitata

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, Reichenbach
8
Kunzea parvifolia

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Schauer.
20
Acacia elongata

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Sieb.
18
a variety of
Prostanthera incisa

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Sieber