Document information

Physical location:

Barr Smith Library, University of Adelaide, SA. 83.08.23

Plant names

Preferred Citation:

Ferdinand von Mueller to Ralph Tate, 1883-08-23. 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/1880-9/1883/83-08-23-final.odt>, accessed June 13, 2026

23/8/83
Let it remain an open question for a while, dear Professor Tate, whether
Minuria integerrima

Search for Minuria integerrima in

and M. denticulata are to be combined. Remember that most (if not perhaps all) of our perennial herbaceous plants are flowering in the first season, thus look as if they had an annual root. This — often from my notes — is pointed out in the Fl. Austr.
1
Bentham (1863-78).
as regards many cases. I feel almost sure, that M. integerrima becomes perennial also. Nevertheless no one should "in verba magistri jurare".
2
'swear to the words of any master' (Horace).
I am glad you go again to the north, before the spring-flowers pass away. Look to the minutest plants particularly.
About 40 species have been added to the Census in this year already irrespective of additional notes, much through your cooperation; so a good supplement can be given at the end of the year.
From Bentham's last remarks in the L.S. journal
3
M is probably referring to the following comments by Bentham, read to the Linnean Society (London) and published in the Society's journal (Bentham [1883], pp. 304-5):
… the 'Flora Australiensis' is sometimes quoted as the joint work of Bentham and Mueller, when it is entirely and exclusively mine, with the assistance indeed, but not the "cooperation," of Baron v. Mueller, this assistance being of precisely the same description as that which I derived from the herbarium and detailed MS. descriptions of Robert Brown, from the herbarium and notes of A. Cunningham, from the rich herbaria of Kew, from the 'Flora Tasmanica' and other published works of the Hookers, as well as from the numerous instructive notes of the Hookers, of Planchon, and others who had worked in the herbarium. In the case of Baron v. Mueller, however, the extreme liberality with which he gave up in my favour his own projects for a general Flora of Australia, and the great value for my purposes of the very numerous specimens of each species which he had collected into the Melbourne herbarium, the whole of which he unreservedly lent to me, seemed to me to demand a special recognition in the titlepage of the 'Flora,' which has thus been miscontrued into an indication of cooperation. A joint work was impossible where consultation was prevented by the great distance which separated us; to procure an answer to the simplest question required four or five months. The descriptions in the 'Flora' are drawn up from the actual examination of specimens, generally checked by a comparison with the MS. notes and printed works above referred to, amongst which Baron v. Mueller's 'Fragmenta.' regularly transmitted to me as printed, bear a prominent part. Nothing in my work is merely copied, except in a very few cases where the material at my disposal was insufficient, and where I have specially referred to my authority. The method and classification are entirely mine, though of course derived from general and other published botanical works.
I can only regret, that I not left him inexperienced, unguided and unguarded to his own limited Australian resources for the Flora Australiensis, when he invoked my cooperation or aid (whatever you like to call it) in 1862. — I could have followed him with a Flora of my own then. He is fast failing in strength, which to learn I much regret,
Regardfully
your
Ferd. von Mueller.
Your list of the Lake Torrens plants
4
R. Tate (1883b).
reminds me of my travelling to near Mt Hopeless
5
Both places in SA.
in Sept & October 1851!