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RBG Kew, Kew correspondence, Australia, Mueller, 1871-81, f. 317. 81.09.05

Plant names

Preferred Citation:

Ferdinand von Mueller to William Thiselton-Dyer, 1881-09-05. 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/1880-9/1881/81-09-05-final.odt>, accessed June 5, 2026

5/9/81.
I have to thank you, dear Mr Dyer, for the photograms of Cycadeae, received from you. It needs not my assurance, that I will gladly aid you in any monographic work on that order; but it so happened, that my interest in the Cycads awoke anew, when I elaborated the description of Zamia Moorei,
1
B81.03.01, p. 84, as Macrozamia moorei.
and I put myself then in communication with several correspondents in regions, where
Cycadeae

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grow, to obtain additional material and fuller notes on several species
2
See, for example, F Kempe to M, 9 July 1881, and P O'Shanesy to M, 17 August 1881.
I presume, there is no great hurry about this, especially as you must be very busy in spare hours to finish the 4th vol of the flora Capensis.
3
Thiselton-Dyer's continuation of the Flora capensis commenced by Harvey and Sonder was long delayed. Vols. 6 and 7 appeared in 1896-7 and 1897-1900 respectively, but the two sections of vol. 4 were not published until 1909 and 1904 (TL2).
Meanwhile palaeontologic research goes also on, so that you can do justice to the
Cycadeae

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also of former ages
The name Peroffskian[a]
4
Macrozamia peroffskiana

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.
among these noble plants, uncalled for as it was,
5
For M’s earlier comments on the inappropriateness of the name see M to G. Bentham 26 September 1873, in this edition as 73-09-26a.
ought to be banished after the imperatricidal horrors of St Petersburg.
6
Tsar Alexander II of Russia was assassinated on 13 March (1 March O.S.) 1881. One of those alleged to be involved was ‘the woman Perowsky’ (The Times, 26 March 1881, p. 7).
Best thanks for the fragments of Euc. stricta.
7
See M to W. Thiselton Dyer, 7 May 1881.
I am now at last free from the work of the international Exhibition;
8
International Exhibition, Melbourne, 1880-1.
so I can resume the writing of the text for the Eucalyptography
9
Presumably for Decade 8 (B82.13.17). E. stricta appeared in Decade 10 (B84.11.02).
& for some other works under progress.
Regardfully your
Ferd. von Mueller.
We look forward with great interest to your report on the Bordeaux Congress, concerning the Phylloxera Vastatrix.
10
Thiselton-Dyer (1882). In his Introduction, dated 5 September 1882, Thiselton Dyer wrote:
I trust the unavoidable delay on my part, from the pressure of multifarious official duties, in submitting this report, will not have entailed any inconvenience. The postponement has, at any rate, afforded me the opportunity of obtaining authentic information, which I trust will be found to be not without value. (¶22, p. 9).
Thiselton-Dyer was paid an honorarium of 100 guineas (£105), receipt of which he acknowledged in a letter of 26 October 1882 (copy at RBG Kew, Archives. Misc. Reports 1.52. Bordeaux Congress [1881], f. 86). For the background to Thiselton-Dyer’s appointment, see M to J. Hooker, 23 July 1881 and notes thereto.
I will try to procure for you a tall stem of
Cycas media

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, but this cannot be done for a few £.
Beccari was quite wrong in reducing
Cycas papuana

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as he acknowledged subsequently
11
Beccari (1877-90), vol. 1, p. 178. Beccari's retraction has not been found.