Document information

Physical location:

RB MSS M20, Library, Royal Botanic Gardens Melbourne. 87.12.15

Plant names

Preferred Citation:

Ralph Tate to Ferdinand von Mueller, 1887-12-15. 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/1880-9/1887/87-12-15-final.odt>, accessed June 5, 2026

1
MS found with a specimen of Commersonia tatei (MEL 236399). MS annotation by M: 'Answ 18/12/87 FvM'. Letter not found.
December 15, 1887.
Herewith I send you duplicate specimens of a plant, which I do not recognize. Since my return from Port Lincoln,
2
SA. Tate and John Ednie Brown arrived in Port Lincoln on 30 November to select a site for a forest reserve (South Australian Register, 1 December 1887, p. 5).
I have been so much engaged on Examination work,
3
At the University of Adelaide.
finishing my manuscript on Part I of the fossil univalves of the Australian Tertiary,
4
Tate (1888).
and clearing off certain arrears of other work before I can leave for my vacational residence, that I have not made a study of the little shrub; as to-morrow I shall be removed from books & material for comparison for the next three months, it will not be possible to me to give it attention for that long period.
5
Tate for many years had a farm at Nairne, SA, where he spent his holidays.
I trust the plant will prove of interest to you it [is]
6
editorial addition.
a stragling
7
straggling?
shrub, lengthening to one foot or more, more or less supported on low herbage. Heath-ground near the Fountain, 17 miles west from Port Lincoln.
8
Commersonia tatei , attributed to M, was described in Tate (1889b), p. 82.
My Port Lincoln [trip] was very barren of results. Casuarina quadrivalvis & C. distyla are common but I failed to recognize either C. torulosa or C. bicuspidata
Yours very sincerely
Ralph Tate