Document information
Physical location:
ML MSS.562, Mitchell Library, State Library of New South Wales, Sydney. 74.07.05Preferred Citation:
Ferdinand von Mueller to Edward Ramsay, 1874-07-05. 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/1870-9/1874/74-07-05-final.odt>, accessed June 13, 2026
Gov. Botanists Office, Mortons Hotel,
Milswyn Str. S. Yarra
near Melbourne
5/7/74
Yesterday, dear Mr Ramsay, I got your letter of the 26 June; and as the Sydney mail
leaves again tomorrow morning, I have devoted most part of this Sunday to examine
the Palm seeds transmitted by you, especially as you may wish such information, as
I may be able to afford, in time for the next English mail. It is with regret, that
I can only very imperfectly respond to your call for two very obvious reasons 1, The
determination of names of palms from seeds alone is well nigh an impossibility, especially
so long as
all
the species of any part of this continent are not yet fully known, for which purpose
of describing even the whole material as yet available for the 7th forthcoming volume of the "Flora"
is unsufficient.
1
Bentham (1863-78). Palms were treated on pp. 132-47.
2, I labor under especial disadvantage for working on palms this moment, because I
lent my whole normal collection to Mr Wendland, who works exclusively on Palms; but
altho' this took place
several years
ago, I have up to date not a single line from him on the subject of their elucidation,
nor has he returned the original specimens, placing me thus at great inconvenience
for further comparisons.
2
Mueller had sent the palms to Martius (M to C. Martius, 22 May 1868) who died in December
of that year
. The specimens were then passed to Wen
d
land (M to E. Ramsay, 2 January 1878), and returned from Kew in 1877 (
G. Bentham to M, 30 April 1877).
In my "fragmenta" however I have given a full account of several new Australian palms,
and thus I will give you a short summary of what I know up to this time concerning
the Palmaceae of Australia, and I will apply this also now briefly to your species,
the albumen of all I have examined this day. I would request you to send me such flowers,
fruits & leaves of all species in your possession, and to accompany this material
by notes on stature, geographic distribution &c; thus then I shall gladly enter fully
into the examination and timely too for utilizing it for the 7th vol. of the Flora
under public acknowledgment of the contributor. Remember in using these notes, that
any additional palm before it can be proclaimed as new to science though new for Australia,
must be compared with the numerous New Caledonian and other polynesian species, as
well as with those of the Sunda Islands.
3
B70.01.01, pp. 82-3; B70.04.01, pp. 99-104; B74.08.01, pp. 221-2; B74.09.02, pp. 233-6.
Material for B74.08.01 had been sent to print before this letter was written, while
the relevant text for B74.09.02 had probably been drafted.
4
Indonesia.
Palms of Australia
I.
Feather-palms.
1,
Ptychosperma Seaforthia
Miquel (Seaforthia elegans, RBr. but not of most other writing A
Tropical
species, not to be recognized with safety from R Browns exceeding brief notes without
reference to his preserved specimens. Most likely this species is represented by one,
which Mr Fitzalan found on islands near Edgecombe Bay,
where it has a stem 50 feet high yet only a few inches thick. The flowers there are
greenish; the stamens more numerous than those of P. Alexandrae; the underside of
the leaves green.
5
Qld.
2,
Ptychosperma Cunninghami
Wendland (Seaforthia Cuninnghami Wendl. S. elegans Hook. Bot. Mag. 4961, not of R
Brown.)
The Illawarra palm; I should like to know all the localities of this. Your N.4.
3,
Ptychosperma Alexandrae
F.v.M. The Alexandra palm. Of this I have given a full account with 2 plates in the
5th vol. of my fragmenta (1865.)
So far as I can judge your seed N.2 belongs to it. Please give me the several localities,
which you know of it. I can form no idea of the
specific
distinctions of the palm of which you sent seeds as N.1. Had I leaves and flowers
I should be able to draw up a diagnosis. Give me the differential notes known to you.
In the event of it being
markedly
distinct, it might be called P. Mariae in honor of the Princess of Russia, by which
means the name of the two now also English Princesses would be happily united.
But you must not adopt such a name, until its validity can be
most clearly
demonstrated, as otherwise I intended to give her imperial Highness name to another
palm.
6
B65.07.03, pp. 47-8 and Tab. XLIII, XLIV.
7
Princess Alexandra of Denmark was married to Queen Victoria
'
s eldest son, Edward, Prince of Wales. In 1874
,
the
Grand Duchess Mari
e
Alexandrovna of Russia married Victoria
'
s second son, Alfred, Duke of Edinburgh.
See Dowe & Maroske (2016).
8
Her name was not applied to a
Ptychosperma
species;
M named
Livistona mariae
in B78.11.04, p. 54; he had used the name without description in B75.
04.08
, p. 222.
4,
Kentia monostachya
F.v.M. (Areca monostachya, Martius). It is a true Kentia, as shown in the fragmenta. vol. VII pag. 82.
It extends from the M'Leay River to New England & Mt Lindsay. You may know still other
localities for it. Mr Hartmann has sent me leaves (but leaves only) of the same or
a closely allied species from near Towomba.
He says the stem of his is 15 feet high and somewhat thicker than that of K. monostachya.
What you as N.3. sent from that collector is a Ptychosperma or of some other allied
genus according to Albumen, not a Kentia.
9
B70.01.01.
10
Toowoomba, Qld.
5,
Kentia Belmoriana
Moore & Mueller
6,
Kentia Canterburyana
Moore & Mueller
7,
Kentia Forsteriana
Moore & Mueller
8,
Kentia Mooreana
, FvM.
All from Lord Howe's Island, and all sent to me by Mr Moore as
Arecas
! A full account of them is given, as far as the material admitted of it, in the 7th
vol of the fragmenta pag. 99-102.
11
B70.04.01.
9,
Kentia Baueri
Seemann (Areca sapida Endlicher not Forster; Areca Baueri J. Hooker) Norfolk Island.
This ought to be regarded as belonging to Australia as the island is not very distant
& is a dependency of N.S. Wales, altho' Mr Bentham against my wish excluded the Norfolk island plants from the "Flora". I
never saw flowers & fruits; have you any?
10,
Kentia Wendlandiana
F.v.M. Fragm V, 103.
My specimens are from the Liverpool River. Can you give me any
safe
additional localities. I am aware that it occurs also on some Northern points of the
east coast, for instance Cape Sidmouth, where Dr Curdie gathered it.
12
B66.02.01.
13
North Qld. Curdie was there in 1872 with the Victorian eclipse expedition.
11,
another feather
palm I have from Mt Elliot, and am just engaged to work it out for the fragmenta.
If you have any material for its elucidation, I shall be grateful for it.
12,
Calamus obstruens
, F.v.M. Fragm.
V, 48,
discovered at Rockingham's Bay by Dallachy, but seen already in Kennedy's unfortunate
expedition by Mr Carron in 1848, who may be able to give further information. The
pinnae are smooth on the margin not aculeate as in C. australis (the N. S. Wales species), moreover the fruitscales have a far more narrow margin.
14
B65.07.03.
13,
Calamus Australis
(Martius) Described from Fitzroy Island. It seems to me identical with the N.S.W.
species, but my material is very imperfect
14,
Calamus caryotoides
(All Cunningham) said to be also a New South Wales species, with fruits as small as
a
pea
. I never saw such. Have you? I think however, that I have a third (or fourth) Austral.
species in my collection. Please send me all your Calami.
15,
Cocos nucifera
L. It is now known from several places of the Queensland coast & as far south as Broad
Sound.
16,
Caryota
, from Cape York. I have good specimens and believe the species distinct from the
several ones of India. I have temporarily called it C. Alberti, and intend to elaborate
it for the 7th vol of the flora.
15
M was forestalled.
Caryota albertii
was named by
H.
Wendland
&
Drude (1875), pp
.
221-3, using M
'
s name as given
'
in literis ad H. Wendland 1874
'
(l
etter not found
); the collector of the Cape York specimen they used is given as
'
Dalmel
'
possibly a misreading of
'
Daemel
'
on M
'
s specimen labe
l
(
see MEL 67693
)
.
II. Fan palms
17,
Livistona Leichhardtii
. FvM. I have cursorily referred to it under this name in the fragmenta.
It is an extremely tall species, and I found it in
drier
climatic regions than any other palm, at the rear of Arnhems Land & Carpentaria I have no good flowers & fruits. It is seemingly this palm (from a single leaf received)
which induced Mr Giles to name a valley in the Macdonnell Range (
Central Australia
!) the glen of palms.
16
B74.08.01, p. 221.
17
See E. Giles (1875), p. 15
, where in a footnote M called it the Maria-Palm
.
18.
Livistona Australis
(Martius) Coryphya Australis Br. The only Victorian palm, found by me in 1854 in East
Gippsland! What are its N.S. Wales and Queensland localities?
19,
Livistona inermis
RBr.
20 Livistona humilis RBr.
Of none of the two I have specimens. They differ from Livist. Australis in having
strings between the segments of the leaves Can I obtain specimens from you? I have a drawing of a noble fan-palm, made during
Hann's Expedition to the north of the Endeavour River
by Mr Norman Taylor. This may belong to L. humilis. Mr Dallachy seems never to have
sent good material (any which reached me) of any fan palm or indeed any other palm
from Rockinghams Bay. He may not have seen flowers & fruit. Can your N.5 be the
true
Livistona humilis? Has it a tall stem or not? Has it long thin strings between the
segments? Has Hill got it lately? He sent me reluctantly some of his plants, but no
palms. Anyhow you might send me your specimens, if only on loan.
18
Cooktown, Qld.
Perhaps you have other plants of your last expedition in such a state as to enable
me to work them out for the fragmenta, a new number of which will appear in a
few weeks
.
The small Cycas
with sessile 2 fruited rachis
I have described in the last number of the fragmenta as C. Normanbyana.
I know it as yet only from Port Denison. Cycas media (of which C. angulata
seems
a variety) is the more common species. I do not know its south terminus; does it reach
N.S.W.?
19
Ramsay specimens of
Pandanus
pedunculatus
,
Livistona ramsayi
and
Ptychosperma cunninghami
are mentioned in B74.08.01, pp
. 220-
2.
20
B74.04.01, pp. 169-71.
Did you come across any other Musa but my M. Banksii? Mr Hill found one with erect
spadix, but as
six
good species with erect inflorescence are known from India, it remains uncertain what
the species may be. I think he speaks of a third one, but then there are
nine
with pendent spike (all
good
species) in India irrespective of the two African ones.
If you go out again, you should for your own sake, collect as many plants for drying
as ever possible. I will be happy to work them out and give you full credit; and if
you wish any particular friend to pay a compliment, I can effect a dedication accordingly.
Scitamineae & other plants bad to dry must be exsiccated near the fire without pressure, and simply a
few flowers (numbered corresponding to the specimen) be extracted from the head or
spike &c, and pressed separately. In
all
instances fruit-specimens should be collected as carefully as flowering ones. Among
the
trees
must be yet much novelty in the North.
I should gladly accept your offer of a
few
palmseeds for correspondents, which helps making them known. I cannot purchase them,
as the
whole working
expenses of my ruined Department now are £300! (not £3000) a year, not sufficient
to rent the needful buildings. Indeed I think that through me and me alone the large
export also of Palm seeds has arisen, as Haage & Schmidt & many others in Germany,
France &c had them in first instance, more then a dozen years ago, from me. I ought
to have for that some public acknowledgement. I sent test samples to almost all the
South European Gardens at the same time.
Regardfully your
Ferd. von Mueller.
R. Brown has only 4 Palms in his prodromus (1810)
21
R. Brown (1810), pp. 266-9.
How many Australian fern trees do you distinguish?
Areca Baueri
Areca monostachya
Areca sapida
Calamus australis
Calamus caryotoides
Calamus obstruens
Caryota Alberti
Cocos nucifera
Coryphya Australis
Cycas angulata
Cycas media
Cycas Normanbyana
Kentia Baueri
Kentia Belmoriana
Kentia Canterburyana
Kentia Forsteriana
Kentia monostachya
Kentia Mooreana
Kentia Wendlandiana
Livistona Australis
Livistona humilis
Livistona inermis
Livistona Leichhardtii
Musa Banksii
Palmaceae
Ptychosperma Alexandrae
Ptychosperma Cunninghami
Ptychosperma Mariae
Ptychosperma Seaforthia
Scitamineae
Seaforthia elegans