Document information

Physical location:

RB MSS M5a, Library, Royal Botanic Gardens Melbourne. 82.03.24a

Plant names

Preferred Citation:

Ferdinand von Mueller to Frederick Bailey, 1882-03-24 [82.03.24a]. 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/1880-9/1882/82-03-24a-final.odt>, accessed June 9, 2026

1
MS is the verso of a sheet used by M as a label for a specimen of Macrozamia macdonnellii (MEL 237355) collected at the Finke River, Central Australia by Hermann Kempe in 1882. This suggests that the letter may not have been sent, but M somehow obtained the information he was seeking; see n. 4 below.
24/3/82
In working up Euc. tesselaris
2
Eucalyptus tessellaris ?
for the 9th Decade of the Atlas,
3
B83.13.07.
dear Mr Bailey, I like to turn to account brief notes on eleven Euc., concerning which the strenght of the timber has there been ascertained by our friend Mr Byerley. The kind, about which (by their vernacular name in the S. of Queensland I am left in doubt, are:
Red Ironbark-tree
Grey " "
Black " "
Rusty Gumtree
Bloodwood
Gumtop-Box tree.
Can you from your great local experience afford a clue to these. I suppose, there is no reasonable doubt about Flooded Gum tree (E. tereticornis) – Spotted Gumtree (E. maculata) and Thozet's Box tree (E. Raveretiana.
4
There is no closing bracket. M included details of Byerley's measurements on eight species of Eucalyptus, including the three for which botanical names are here given, in his discussion of E. tessellaris.
Regardfully your
Ferd von Mueller.