Ferdinand von Mueller

1

Letter not found. The text given here is from a report of a meeting of the Scientific Committee of the Royal Horticultural Society held on 13 May 1874, Gardeners' chronicle , 16 May 1874, p. 641 ( B74.05.04). The text is introduced by: ‘Professor Thiselton Dyer, on behalf of Dr. Masters, read the following letter from Baron von Mueller:—‘.

The letter is dated to March 1874 as the latest likely date that the letter and specimen could have been sent to have been discussed at the meeting, after the specimen was compared at Kew with other specimens as reported in Thiselton-Dyer's comments printed after the letter extract.

From Melbourne will be sent to you by this month’s post a dried branch of

Correa Lawrenciana

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, with flowers as brilliantly red as any of the showiest varieties of C. speciosa. I am eager that you, as a leader of horticulture in Britain, should place this branchlet at an early occasion before the members of the Horticultural Society, so that full attention may be directed to the importance of this plant for conservatory culture. You will be aware that C. Lawrenciana in its ordinary state, with greenish yellow flowers, is widely occupying the wet sub-alpine ranges of Gippsland, towards Cape Otway, and also of many parts of Tasmania, where Mr. Lawrence discovered it nearly forty years ago. It is, however, not so generally known that C. Lawrenciana is far more hardy than C. speciosa, that it is a far taller bush, attaining a height of 20 feet and perhaps more, and that the lustre of the dark green surface of the leaves renders the species a still more eligible object. Add to this, that it flowers nearly through the year, that the flowers do not always stand singly, but generally in clusters, and that now a crimson variety can be had—and you will consider that an important horticultural acquisition is gained, and which I intend to render accessible to Europe. In my recent journey to Mount Kosciusco from the west (I went to that Mount from the south in 1854) I saw only plants of C. Lawrenciana with red flowers, whereas on the southern brooks I saw only the variety with the greenish flowers. Possibly the plant may prove hardy in Britain, as it ascends here to 4000 feet.