Document information
Physical location:
RB MSS M51, Library, Royal Botanic Gardens Melbourne. 72.10.03Preferred Citation:
Charles Prentice to Ferdinand von Mueller, 1872-10-03. 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/1870-9/1872/72-10-03-final.odt>, accessed June 18, 2026
1
MS found with a specimen of
Lindsaea linearis
(MEL 2150214).
Oct 3. 1872
Dear Sir
Your list of Lindsaeas
does not include L. media RBr. not rare in the north of the Colony, & it has no synonyms;
do you refer it to L. tenera?
2
List not found.
I enclose herewith fragments of two Lindseas; one is [that] which Mr Baker I suppose, regards as the Australian equivalent of L. cultrata,
& which must be common [back] in northern Queensland; the other is represented by a single frond in the national
herbarium in the British Museum, and is there named
L. linearis
Sw. & RBr. which it cannot be, though the specific name is very applicable to it;
I have another Lindsaea here, which I will enclose if I can find an example agreeing
much better with linearis, & is so named by Mr Baker, but differing in the tufted,
not creeping rhizome, (though it really has no rhizome) the uniformly green or strawcoloured stipites, thinner texture, and
heterogenous
fronds.
3
Hooker & Baker (1865-8), pp.103, 104, completed by John Gilbert Baker after W. J.
Hooker died when only 48 pages had been printed.
I have been carefully over Mr Browns Australian herbarium, & neither fern is to be found in it; what surprised me most
however was with reference to our two Common Niphoboli, rupestris & confluens; the
smaller delicate species, almost always found on shaded tree-trunks, with the most
delicate filiform rachis, & which I had with others always supposed to be
L. confluens
& which is not in Mr J. Smiths
collection is there labelled Niph. rupestris, & I altered the name I had given my plant, with Mr Brown's label & specimens before me; the coarser & larger Niphobolus as often found on rocks & boulders as upon trees, is there named N. confluens, though the same plant in Mr J. Smiths collection is named N. rupestris.
I have not seen N. adhascens near Brisbane. I shall be very glad of your Fragments,
which I would order if I could.
4
Lindsaea confluens? Name not found (APNI, IPNI, accessed 25 June 2023).
5
John Smith (1798-1888), whose herbarium of ferns was purchased by the British Museum
in 1866 (ODNB).
6
i.e. M's
Fragmenta phytographiae australiae.
We are of course not strong in Algae here, the coral reefs offering too insecure a nidus; the commoner Sp. are Cystophyllum muricatum, Sargassum vulgare (?) Caulerpa sedoides Plocamium or the allied genus Hymenocladia, Catenella & some Ulva & Porphyra, food for the Dugong. I formerly paid a good deal of attention to European algae, &
had much correspondence with the late Prof. Harvey.
Lindsaea lanuginosa, is a fine species & limited I presume to the north, as it is
a New Guinea fern. L. microphylla is common about Brisbane, & L. Fraseri plentiful in one spot only. L. pentaphylla or Ensifolia on Moreton island, small & stunted, a form intermediate between L. L. ensifolia &
pentaphylla.
I trust your official? troubles are smoother: perhaps it would be better to consider
a little the taste of the profanum vulgus,
omnipotent as they are in all our colonies.
7
common masses.
Yours very truly
Chas. Prentice.
Baron V. Mueller &c &c
Catenella
Caulerpa sedoides
Cystophyllum muricatum
Hymenocladia
Lindsaea confluens
Lindsaea cultrata
Lindsaea ensifolia
Lindsaea Fraseri
Lindsaea lanuginosa
Lindsaea linearis
Lindsaea media
Lindsaea microphylla
Lindsaea pentaphylla
Lindsaea tenera
Niphobolus adhescens
Niphobolus confluens
Niphobolus rupestris
Plocamium
Porphyra
Sargassum vulgare
Ulva