Ferdinand von Mueller

MS found with a specimen of Olearia elliptica (MEL 2162716).

NSW.

Sydney morning herald,, 19 July 1879, p. 8, includes, under the heading 'Eucalyptus', an unsigned review, presumably by Woolls, of some plates of M's Eucalyptographia, five that were issued in the Second Decade, one in the First Decade, one in the Third Decade, and E. luehmanniana that was not issued under the quoted name in any of the ten decades, presumably because M came to regard it is a variety of E. stellulta (see discussion under that species in the Sixth Decade). The review includes the following passage:

As the Baron proceeds with his labours one thing is abundantly evident, viz. that the species of Eucalyptus are not so intimately associated as to render their separation impossible. It is true that there are some in the neighbourhood of Port Jackson that resemble each other so closely as to make it exceedingly difficult to recognize them from dried specimens; but when they are placed in separate sections according to the bark and habit of the trees this difficulty is nearly removed… Here the Baron's critical system is highly useful, and refers the species to its proper place in the systematic arrangement… For this mode of distinction we are indebted to the Baron, and it is one which commends itself for its simplicity…

Woolls (1879) was announced in Sydney newspapers in early December (e.g. ‘Publications received’, Sydney daily telegraph, 3 December 1879, p. 7), and advertised for sale at five shillings, or six shillings posted (e.g. Sydney morning herald, 21 February 1880, p. 8), not quite as low a price as he had envisaged.