The correspondence of Ferdinand von Mueller: ¶ Newyears day ¶ 1881. ¶ ¶ Let me offer you, dear Sir Joseph, a happy new year, though my felicitation can reach you only after so long a time. ¶ ¶ Your letter of the 8th Nov ¶ came just into my h...

Document information

Physical location:

RBG Kew, Kew correspondence, Australia, Mueller 1871-81, f. 295. 81.01.01b

Plant names

Chaetospora
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Isolepis
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Ptychosperma Normanbyana
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- Australian Plant Name Index
Sapindaceae
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Preferred Citation:

Ferdinand von Mueller to Joseph Hooker, 1881-01-01 [81.01.01b]. 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/1880-9/1881/81-01-01b-final.odt>, accessed May 16, 2026

Newyears day

1881.

Let me offer you, dear Sir Joseph, a happy new year, though my felicitation can reach you only after so long a time.

Your letter of the 8th Nov

J. Hooker to M, 8 November 1880.

came just into my hands a few days ago; in reply to the question, raised therein, whether possibly two species are included under ,

P. normanbyi? (M used 'normanbyi' in print (e. g. B74.09.02, p. 235; B78.11.04, p. 56; B89.13.12, p. 202), but used 'normanbyana' in other letters (e.g. M to G. Bentham, 10 September 1874; M to J. Hooker, 1 June 1884). Bentham & Hooker (1862-83) have 'normanbyanum (vol. 3, p. 893).

I can only say, that the palm-collectors of Australia have furnished such inadequate material as to leave some doubt on the point raised. Very few palms of this part of the globe are within ready reach, and the majority occur far away from settlements and in places, where the natives cannot be trusted. But gradually the aborigines become subdued or rather exterminated, and so the jungles may also become more opened. The jurors duties for the Exhibition

International Exhibition, Melbourne, 1880-1.

in several branches, including chemical products, makes still such an inroad on my time, that my literary work got much into arrear; so excuse brevity.

Regardfully your

Ferd. von Mueller.

You must not be angry with me, when I express my regret at the impending multiplication of the genera of palms. As still more spec. will be discovered, more generic limits will break down. We can as a rule attain much better by sections in a large genus, what by severance of them is accomplished under generic names. Take as an instance & . What a burden the two have been to us through nearly a whole century! cui bono? So will it be with other artificial genera finally, to wit: Radlkofers of

See, Radlkofer (1875), where the genus is split into many sections; Radlkofer (1879).

&c &c