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RBG Kew, Kew correspondence, Australia, Mueller, 1871-81, f. 160. 74.12.25a

Plant names

Preferred Citation:

Ferdinand von Mueller to Joseph Hooker, 1874-12-25 [74.12.25a]. 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/1870-9/1874/74-12-25a-final.odt>, accessed June 5, 2026

1
MS annotation: 'Ans. March 10th'. In this edition as J. Hooker to M, 75-03-10a.
Melbourne
Christmas
1874.
You being the author of a highly valuable pocket-volume on English or rather British plants,
2
J. Hooker (1870), in which
Juncus capitatus

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is mentioned (p. 392), but J. pygmaeus is not listed. However, in the second edition (1878) both are listed (p. 416). See J. Hooker to M, 10 March 1875.
dear Dr Hooker, you must naturally be interested in any additions, that could likely be made. Allow me to mention then, that I always found with
Juncus pygmaeus

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also J. capitatus .
In Trimens journal 2 or 3 years ago, I pointed out, that
Chenolea hirsuta

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in its almost glabrous form was almost sure to exist with
Suaeda maritima

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on your coasts, and that by its tendency to a spiral twist of the upper stem it could often be recognized, without dissecting the fruit.
3
B73.06.01.
A minute tuft of hair in the axils allows also the plant easily to be recognized. Could not one of your assistants search carefully through the Kew collections of
Suaeda maritima

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for finding British specimens of the Chenolea
So it might also be done with
Scirpus silvaticus

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.
4
Scirpus sylvaticus?
Surely mixed with it is S. radicans? The setae of the two are very different, but who would suspect that when 2 plants, so similar in outward appearance grow together. The spikelets of S. radicans are always larger and generally singly dispersed but not so much clustered. I have found an other character, nowhere recorded: S. silvaticus has the branches of the panicle hairy-scabrous (like in my S. polystachyus), not smooth as in S. radicans.
I find, that S. fluviatilis (A. Gray) is here on many places, but perhaps only on Freshwater streams. May it not have been confounded in your islands & elsewhere with S. maritimus.
Regardfully yr
Ferd. von Mueller