Document information

Physical location:

86.04.00e

Plant names

Preferred Citation:

Ferdinand von Mueller to the Gardeners' Chronicle, 1886-04 [86.04.00e]. 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/1880-9/1886/86-04-00e-final.odt>, accessed June 4, 2026

1
Letter not found. The text given here is from '
Ottelia ovalifolia

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', Gardeners' chronicle, 12 June 1886, p. 753 (B6.06.04). It is dated to late April 1886 as the latest date that it is likely to have been sent to have been published in that issue.
OTTELIA OVALIFOLIA.
As this Ottelia has now been raised in several European gardens from seeds procured by me, it may be interesting to give an illustration in the Gardeners' Chronicle , copied from my Key to the System of Victorian Plants .
2
B86.04.05, fig. 115(A).
There should be no difficulty in naturalising this pretty aquatic in the South of Europe. The plant is also remarkable for its dimorphism, the flowers with preponderating stamens being the largest, those with preponderating styles and seeds being the smallest.
Ottelia tenera

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is the plant in its first year's age. The dimorphism of the genus Ottelia seems never yet to have been illustrated.
Ferd. von Mueller, Melbourne.
3
M's text is followed by a commentary on the genus, indicating that the 'species figured from a drawing made by Baron von Mueller, is an Australian plant, and few species are more worthy of cultivation in the aquarium'. The illustration differs very slightly from the woodcut in B86.04.05.