Document information

Physical location:

79.03.00c

Plant names

Preferred Citation:

Ferdinand von Mueller to Robert Johnston, 1879-03 [79.03.00c]. 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/1870-9/1879/79-03-00c-final.odt>, accessed June 13, 2026

1
Letter not found. The text given here is from R. Johnston (1880), p. 25. Although undated, this paper was apparently read to the Royal Society of Tasmania on 8 April 1879, as the preceding and succeeding papers, both also by Johnston, were read on that date. M's letter is dated to March 1879 as the latest likely date for it to have been written in order for Johnston to have prepared his paper in time to have been read at this meeting.
The paper reports on the discovery of fossil fruit at the Brandy Creek goldfields, Tas, which included those Johnston identified as
Spondylostrobus smythii

Search for Spondylostrobus smythii in

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[ I submitted the fruits to Baron Von Müeller, who is praiseworthily investigating the paleophytology of Victoria and New South Wales, and he not only confirmed my opinion, but declared that in one of the drawings (No. 5), contained in my first paper to the Royal Society of Tasmania ("Regarding Comp. and Extent of Tert. Beds, Launceston," read 12th August, 1873), he believed he discerned the missing foliage of S. Smythii , so long unavailingly sought for in Victoria. He stated further that if I could find out whether the whorls were quinary he would feel justified in relating the various parts. Unfortunately, the specimen from which I took the drawing has crumbled to powder but in a fragment of the Risdon Quarry travertin presented to me some years ago by the late Mr. Morton Allport, I believe I have discovered the same foliage, which is undoubtedly quinary.]