The correspondence of Ferdinand von Mueller: 18/1/77. ¶ ¶ I am eager to ask you, dear Dr Hooker, whether you could conveniently send me a glass-case with Elymus arenarius & Psamma arenaria roots, put into the proper sea-sand. The reason why I a...

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Physical location:

RBG Kew, Miscellaneous reports 7.7. Victoria, miscellaneous 1861-1916 (MR/412), f. 232. 77.01.18a

Plant names

Elymus arenarius
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Lupinus albifrons
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Lupinus arboreus
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Psamma arenaria
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Preferred Citation:

Ferdinand von Mueller to Joseph Hooker, 1877-01-18 [77.01.18a]. 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/1870-9/1877/77-01-18a-final.odt>, accessed June 13, 2026

18/1/77.

I am eager to ask you, dear Dr Hooker, whether you could conveniently send me a glass-case with & roots, put into the proper sea-sand. The reason why I ask is this. I induced the Government of this colony to import two consignments of seeds of these Grasses in considerable quantity.

See M to E. Symonds, 9 February 1876. On 28 April 1876 [S.] Yardley, Secretary to the Agent General for Victoria, wrote to Hooker asking for possible sources of seeds of Psamma arenaria, Elymus arenarius, , and Lupinus albiflorus [no such species listed in IPNI (accessed 5 May 2020): error for L. albifrons?] (RBG Kew, Miscellaneous reports 7.7. Victoria, miscellaneous 1861-1916, f. 230). See Heathcote & Maroske (1996).

These have been sown, but I fear without result.

See e.g. M to F. Mandeville, February 1877 (in this edition as 77-02-00).

I had the seeds separately tested at a nurseryman's place, but they did not germinate; so I must suppose, that they had lost their power of vitality before coming here, or were too old or not sufficiently ripened. I took the precaution to advise, that you should be solicited to procure & select the seeds, but perhaps you were never consulted. Altho' the expense has not been great (under £50), yet here are so many eager to find fault with me in anything I may do or not do, that I like to be able to show anyhow the 2 plant, above mentioned, even if I was driven to the extremity to propagate them on our sands by division of root, if once the living plants were obtained. When I sent for these seeds, I ordered also those of & L. albifrons, to try with these perennial species the Californian method. Also in this I am failed, for an enormous lot of annual Lupin seeds were sent!

Presumably because Thiselton-Dyer and the Agent General interpreted the erroneous L. albiflorus as meaning L. albus.

If you can help me with your usual goodness, then please send to me direct , not to the bot. Garden, (or rather bot. Cremorne) the new consignment.

Regardfully your

Ferd. von Mueller