Document information

Physical location:

In and out letter and packet book, letter register, Colonial Botanist, book one, 1879-1894, Queensland Herbarium,Brisbane. 83.05.07b

Preferred Citation:

Frederick Bailey to Ferdinand von Mueller, 1883-05-07 [83.05.07b]. 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/1880-9/1883/83-05-07b-final.odt>, accessed June 13, 2026

1
Letter not found; item is a register entry only, dated 7 May 1883.
MEL 69719 ( Bauhinia malabarica ) is accompanied by a note : 'I have just received this from Mr [Alfred] Giles and think that you had better have it to finish the description. FMB' . There is also a note from Giles: 'Large shrub/tree 18 or 20 ft high, wide spreading branches, sheds its leaves and puts forth new ones in November. Has a small pale white flower and seed, long pea pod 8 inches long'. Some of these details are not in the description (B82.07.04, pp. 151-2) based on an earlier specimen collected by Alfred Giles and sent with F. Bailey to M, 1882 (in this edition as 82-00-00d). No updated description has been found. The description had 'Nearest to B. Malabarica; … The material of the new species is too imperfect to trace any further differences.'
In December 1886, Giles also supplied another specimen (MEL 69718), from the Katherine River. At this time Giles was collecting more extensively for M, and it is likely that this specimen was not sent via Bailey.
[sending Bauhinia Gilesii]
Bauhinia Gilesii