Document information
Physical location:
RB MSS M70, Library, Royal Botanic Gardens Melbourne. 79.11.15Preferred Citation:
Thomas Kirk to Ferdinand von Mueller, 1879-11-15. 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/79-11-15>, accessed September 11, 2025
1
Letter found with a specimen of
Cyathea cunninghamii
(MEL 224427) collected in the Dandenong Ranges, Vic., 1879.
2
NZ.
15 Nov 1879
My dear Baron
Your first letter of 28 October with specimen of
Cyathea
"
medullaris
" of Victoria came to hand on the 8th inst. — the second of the same date was received
yesterday.
I delayed my reply in the first instance from a wish to compare your specn. with the
N.Z. plant in a fresh condition and now return the specimen with a memo wh will I
hope be of some small assistance in leading you to a decision as to the specific value
of your plant as distinct from ours.
3
Letters not found.
I must say however, that I should not have felt myself at liberty (Even if so inclined)
to publish any notes until you had made such use of them as seemed fit. I feel diffident
in expressing an opinion based upon the examination of a single pinna — if specimens
from New South Wales and Tasmania present the same delicate texture — angular lobes
and membranous, narrow ring beneath the sorus — together with the slender habit —
I should probably be inclined to consider it distinct —
Does your plant display any special characters in its young state? Has it the habit
of the
young
state
of the N. Z. plant?
Let me thank you for your kindness with regard to the wattle seeds for Mr Firth.
When I complete a packet of plants some time to hand for you I will venture to ask
for Austr Ferns & allied plants. Grasses Cyperaceae Restiaceae & Junceae — all of
wh have special interest for me just now.
Could you spare me a specn of
Senecio odoratus
?
With all kind regards
believe me to be
Yours very truly
T. Kirk
I have no leaves of our Brasenia — Could you favour me with specimens of the Australian
plant.
Baron F. v. Mueller
&c&c&c
Memo on a Specimen of the
Cyathea "medullaris
" of Benthams Flora Australiensis — from Baron F v. Mueller.
4
Memorandum found with a specimen of
Cyathea
medullaris
(MEL 224426), collected in 1879 in the Dandenong Ranges, Vic., that is presumably the specimen
that Kirk said he was returning to M with a memorandum about it.
The specimen consists of a primary pinna somewhat shrivelled, without any portion
of the main rachis, and in an advanced condition the involucres being empty.
It differs from the N.Z. C. medullaris in the following particulars:—
The texture is thin & delicate, colour pale — the
rachis
is weak & pale coloured beneath, covered with rather loose woolly hairs above — a
few minute prickly points are developed near the base beneath; the rachis of the ultimate
pinna is prominent & faintly winged. The pinnules are falcate & expanded at the base
especially on the side next the secondary rachis: the lobes are angular, not rounded,
and are frequently notched at the apex — the pinnules at the apex of the [secondary]
pinnae are deeply toothed.
It is stated to attain the maximum height of 50 feet in Victoria — to have the stem
very slender & beset with the black remnants of the stipites. The fronds are few &
comparatively short, and clothed with
pale
scales.
________________
In the N.Z plant the texture is hard and coriaceous, the main rachis jet black, at
least beneath; the rachis of primary pinnae stout, blackish or dark coloured below
as a rule (never pale) and furnished with closely set prickly points. The covering
of hairs on the upper surface is very weak, or absent. The rachis of the ultimate
pinnae not prominent, nor winged; pinnules not widened at bases: lobes rounded not
notched at the apex: apical pinnules quite entire.
Until the caudex attains the height of 12 feet the trunk is of great thickness caused
in part by the large
ascending
stipes which in this state are very large — frequently 3 inches wide by 2 thick. I
have seen them larger. In this stage they are very long and owing to their erect habit
the crown of fronds presents presents
a naked funnel shaped appearance, which affords a marked contrast to the spreading
or even drooping fronds of old specimens. It is in this state alone that the cellular
tissue is edible — when the fronds assume a spreading habit the "pick" is much smaller
in quantity and is not eaten by the Maoris. The stipes are jet black and until the
frond is nearly developed are densely cloaked with long black scales. At first the
stipites are persistent but only as long as the height of the caudex does not permit
the decaying frond to rest on the ground until the stipes become dry & rigid: in old
specimens the decaying fronds are speedily detached by their weight leaving clean scars of large
size.
5
Word repeated in turning the page.
Specimens with slender stems are only met with in places where the undergrowth of
the forest has been thinned out so that the ferns were deprived of the requisite amount
of atmospheric moisture: they invariably die off before attaining the height of 10
or 12 feet or producing capsules. I never saw a specimen over 15 feet that had not
a stout stem.
I should have mentioned that the cupshaped involucres of the Victorian specimen are
much narrower & more membranous than in the N.Z. plant.
13 Nov 1879
Wellington
In the shape of the lobes of the pinnules, and in the woolly covering of the rachis
of the ultimate pinnules, the Victorian plant approaches C.
Cunninghamii
— wh it resembles also in texture, but differs widely in other particulars
6
A note in the file in M’s hand appears to be related to these documents, but no record was kept of where it was found: '
Cyathea gracillima
differs from C. medullaris of N.Z in much less coriaceous fronds, the presense of
more scales (paleae) on the rachis of the pinnae & pinnules & probably in the stipites.
| Ex archegoniis studio & charact. specif derivand. | Olim C. affinem habui e definitio
insufficiente’.
See also
Leader
(Melbourne), 10 April 1880, p. 8, concerning a display of tree-ferns at J. C. Cole's
nursery in Richmond, that includes reference to a 'very slender Cyathea of the Cape
Otway ranges and Dandenong, to which Baron Von Mueller has given the name Cyathea
Boylei, in commemoration of Mr. David Boyle's discovery of this fern tree in the Dandenong
Ranges'. The new species, formerly regarded as identical with
C. affinis
but now recognized as distinct, is compared with
C. Cunninghami
of NZ 'but Baron Von Mueller, as well as Professor Kirk, of Wellington' regard them
as distinct; 'the former gentleman intends to give early a fuller account of C. Boylei'.
A formal description of the species, using M's manuscript name, was however published
not by M but by Charles French Snr (C. French (1880-81), p. 33).
Brasenia
Cyathea Cunninghamii
Cyathea medullaris
Cyperaceae
Junceae
Restiaceae
Senecio odoratus