Document information

Physical location:

RBG Kew, filed with Herbarium specimen Gramineae, Phragmites australis. 79.03.20

Plant names

Preferred Citation:

Ferdinand von Mueller to William Munro, 1879-03-20. 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/79-03-20>, accessed September 11, 2025

1
MS found with a specimen sheet labelled: No 64 Arundo | Phragmites | River Yarra, Melbourne | 17/4/53.
20/3/79
Allow me, dear General Munro, to consult you as the great investigator of
Gramineae

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, in reference to the Australian species of Phragmites. Mr Bentham has admitted in the flora Australiensis only one species;
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P hragmites communis ; Bentham (1863-78), vol. 7, p, 636.
but it seems, that the tropical Phragmites, which occurs not only in North Queensland, but which I have also recently received from the Nickol-Bay district of West Australia, does not die down annually, like the British common Phragmites, which latter seems however clearly identical with our southern Australian species. The difference between what I suppose is Phragm. Roxburghii and Phragm. communis is thus very striking, and probably it is supported by other characteristics, such as the limited material here at my disposal does not readily allow me to trace out but which you will long since have studied fully. It seems to me, also, that P. Roxburghii is a larger plant than P. communis.
I have a few other grasses from several parts of Australia, which were discovered since the 7th vol. of the Flora Australiensis appeared; of these I will gladly send you specimens, if you should desire it, by which means the Australian material obtained from my Museum-collections will be kept complete with you.
With reverence your
Ferd. von Mueller, M.D.