The correspondence of Ferdinand von Mueller: 28 August 1880. ¶ ¶ I am indebted to you, noble sir, for your kind communication ¶ about the real ¶ Lobelia quadrangularis ¶ , which, according to the most kindly-made sketch must be synonymized wi...

Document information

Physical location:

Nachlass Anton Kerner, 131.33.2.12, Archiv der Universität Wien, Vienna. 80.08.28a

Plant names

Leea rubra
Search for Leea rubra in
- This website
- Australian Plant Name Index
Leea sambucina
Search for Leea sambucina in
- This website
- Australian Plant Name Index
Leptorhynchus linearis
Search for Leptorhynchus linearis in
- This website
- Australian Plant Name Index
Leptorhynchus nitidulus
Search for Leptorhynchus nitidulus in
- This website
- Australian Plant Name Index
Leptorhynchus squamatus
Search for Leptorhynchus squamatus in
- This website
- Australian Plant Name Index
Lobelia humistrata
Search for Lobelia humistrata in
- This website
- Australian Plant Name Index
Lobelia purpurascens
Search for Lobelia purpurascens in
Lobelia quadrangularis
Search for Lobelia quadrangularis in
- This website
- Australian Plant Name Index

Preferred Citation:

Ferdinand von Mueller to Anton Kerner, 1880-08-28 [80.08.28a]. 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/80-08-28a>, accessed September 11, 2025

For a published version of this letter, see Kronfeld (1908), pp. 313-4.

28. August 1880.

Sie haben mich zum Dank verpflichtet, edler Herr, durch Ihre gütige Mittheilung über die ächte , welche nach der freundlichst angefertigten Skizze mit L. purpurascens zusammenfallen müsste, u. wodurch meine erste Ansicht, dass die ähnliche Art von N. W. Australien (L. humistrata) verschieden sei, nun gerechtfertigt wird.

So stellen sich allerlei Berichtigungen für die Flora Australiens heraus, z. B. dass unseres 5ten Continents nicht die gewöhnliche Pflanze Indiens ist, sondern wie Mr. C. B. Clarke vermutet, wohl mit Blume zusammenfällt. Benthams ist auch nicht die Pflanze Lessings, welche nur eine Form von L. squamatus ausmacht, sondern L. nitidulus D. C., wie ich bereits im Jahre 1854 nachwies.

Von habe ich vor sehr langer Zeit ein Lithogramm gegeben (Platte 50), welches in der Flora Austral. übersehen ist. Bauer scheint selbige weiter nördlich gefunden zu haben, als seither bekannt wurde.

Es freut mich, dass Sie meine Museum-Sammlungen durch Ihre österreichischen Lieferungen bereichern wollen, wodurch namentlich kritische Arten sicherer in meiner Anstalt ihre Vertretung finden werden. Meine Sammlungen europäischer Pflanzen sind ziemlich vollständig in Arten, aber nicht immer in Formen-Reihen.

A. de Candolle hat in seiner "Phytographie" meines Museums keine Erwähnung gegeben, u. doch rechne ich etwa 300,000 Exemplare (aus fast allen Weltgegenden) zu besitzen, die, konservativ betrachtet, immerhin 50,000 Arten repräsentieren mögen. Ich werde bereitwillig einen Gegendienst von hier für Ihre gütigen Beiträge liefern.

Mit Ehrerbietung der Ihre

Ferd. von Mueller.

28 August 1880.

I am indebted to you, noble sir, for your kind communication

Letter not found.

about the real , which, according to the most kindly-made sketch must be synonymized with L. purpurascens and by which my first opinion, that the similar species from N. W. Australia (L. humistrata) is different, is now confirmed.

Thus all kinds of corrections for the Flora australiensis

Bentham (1863-78).

come to light, e. g. that of our 5th continent is not the common plant of India but, as Mr C. B. Clarke suspects,

See C. Clarke (1881), p. 140. However, the part of Clarke's article containing this comment was not published until May 1881; Clarke may have written to M about this species, or, perhaps, supplied a preprint.

is probably the same as Blume. Benthams is also not the plant of Lessing, which constitutes only a form of L. squamatus, but L. nitidulus D.C., which I already pointed out in 1854.

In B54.10.01, p. 12, M listed Leptorrhynchus nitidulus, but without comment.

A long time ago I gave a lithograph (Plate 50)

i.e. Plate 50 in B65.02.06.

of that was overlooked in the Flora australiensis.

The entry for this species in Bentham (1863-78), vol. 4, p. 130, does not list M's illustration.

Bauer seems to have found it further north than was known since then.

Bentham (1863-78), vol. 4, p. 130, cites M as the authority for its occurrence in Queensland (southern tributaries of the Burnett River); M's basis for a more northerly location from Bauer has not been identified: Ellie Bauer collected for M further north in Qld, but no Campanulacea collected by her is listed in the Melbourne collections in AVH (accessed 13 July 2021).

I am pleased that you will enrich my museum collections by your Austrian deliveries, whereby especially critical species will find their representation more reliably in my institution. My collections of European plants are rather complete in species, but not always in series of forms.

A. De Candolle did not mention my museum in his "Phytographie"

A. de Candolle (1880). See M to A. de Candolle, 4 August 1880.

and yet I calculate having about 300,000 specimens (from almost all regions of the world), which, conservatively regarded, may represent at least 50,000 species. I shall willingly supply a reciprical service from here for your generous contributions.

With respect

Your

Ferd. Von Mueller