Document information

Physical location:

A644, Mitchell Library, State Library of New South Wales, Sydney. 79.03.19a

Plant names

Preferred Citation:

Ferdinand von Mueller to John Buchanan, 1879-03-19 [79.03.19a]. 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/1870-9/1879/79-03-19a-final.odt>, accessed June 4, 2026

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MS annotations: 'Carex buchanani F. Muell 19 March 1879' and 'Date | Carex Buchanani | Zannichella is probably
Lepilaena

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'.
19/3/79
I was pleased, dear Mr Buchanan,
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John Buchanan (1819-1898).
to get your letter of the 10th
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Letter not found.
& the specimen of the supposed
Zannichellia

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.
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See M to J. Buchanan, 23 January 1879.
It is probably
Lepilaena

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, (as I predicted formerly the N.Z. plant to be); — but the main-differences between
Zannichellia

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&
Lepilaena

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consist in the ♂-flowers. These you will find easily all the year round in your clime, if you look for the swollen bases of the leaves, by which they are invaginated. You may perhaps find the male flowers on plants distinct from the female specimens. The cyperoid plant is a Carex , (allied to
Carex Colensoi

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,) to which I like for specific distinction to attach your honored name; but for writing a good diagnosis of this species in contrast with the numerous congeners, it is needful that perfectly ripe fruits should be secured.
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Carex buchananii was named not by M but by Berggren, in 1880, based on a collection he made in February 1874 in the Canterbury Province.
It belongs to the section with two stigmas. Meanwhile you may have occasion to mention at the N.Z. Institute's meeting, that thus an other plant had been added to the N.Z. Flora and the same may be said of
Mesembrianthemum aequilaterale

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.
With regardful remembrance
Ferd. von Mueller.
I find that I have no specimen of
Carex Colensoi

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for comparison.
What is the cause of Mr Kirk, whom I believe to be an excellent teacher, to cede from his Professorship?, as I have lately heard.
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Thomas Kirk lectured in natural sciences at Wellington College, at that time affiliated to the University of New Zealand. In 1879 a royal commission advocated the separation of university and secondary education. Kirk's appointment was terminated because he represented university rather than secondary-school interests, but the college raised funds to retain his services for a further year. He then moved to a lectureship at the Lincoln School of Agriculture, Canterbury [NZDB].