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Gray Herbarium Archives, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts. 88.05.15

Plant names

Preferred Citation:

Ferdinand von Mueller to Sereno Watson, 1888-05-15. 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/1880-9/1888/88-05-15-final.odt>, accessed June 4, 2026

15/5/88
Your deep sorrow, dear Prof. Watson, is shared by me, at the mournful loss of our unreplacable friend, Asa Gray! To you , his "companion under arms" for conquering the vast fields of the N. Amer. Flora, the passing away of such a leader must be particularly sad; but his death was one amidst the brightest earthly honors and in unfading glory; and devine
1
divine?
merciful providence spared him the pains of a long and lingering illness. I shall miss Asa Gray much! (Never shall I forget the generous spirit, in which he reviewed my poor works).
2
Never shall I … poor works written in the centre margin on the back the first folio, i.e. between pages 3 and 4, with no indication of intended position. Page 4 ends at … between us, and. Parentheses are an editorial addition.
our friendship became never clouded in the 30 years communications between us, and he seemed always to wish we should meet for once in life. Thus he invited me pressingly to the British Association's meeting, when it was held on your side of the Atlantic Ocean;
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The British Association for the Advancement of Science met in Canada in 1884.
but I could in my official departmental position at that grand occasion not make free the needful time. Even during the horrors of the Civil war of the U.S., he wrote on one occasion the following as the whole contents of a letter, accompanying a sending. Dear Mueller. "I am distracted, but I do not forget you"! Asa Gray; — and at the day of your centenary jubilee, he — though so good a patriot — wrote to me, "the streets are resounding the joy, but I gain a day for quiet work on my plants!" Such expressions are worthy of a true son of science.
So I shall never see his handwriting again afresh. Steetz wrote me 30 years ago, "if a batch of letters came, and one from Asa Gray was among it, that was always first opened and read.
4
There are no closing quotation marks. Letter not found.
When in 1840 I commenced my investigations on the Flora of the Western portion of Schleswig, then Danish territory, to which my friend Prof Dr Lange particularly alluded some years afterwards (published as "breviarum etc."),
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B53.08.01, B53.08.02.
the name of Asa Gray became at once familiar to me. Now within few weeks three leading Botanist of great renown, who honored me with their friendship, have passed away. Asa Gray, de Bary, Planchon! My condolence will have been conveyed already to Mrs. Gray through Prof. Sargent; will you be so friendly, to express my grief at such a loss to Mr. Langley of the Smithsonian Institute and also my profound sorrow of so illustrious a leader of his as Prof Spencer Baird having passed away also!
With deep respects your
Ferd. von Mueller.
My letter of felicition written on newyears day 1888 may yet have reached your great Chief, but that of Febr could not.
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The sentence begins beneath M's signature and is concluded on the left margin of the page. New Year's Day letter not found; no February letter has been found, but see M to A. Gray, 26 January 1888, which may be the letter to which M is referring.
In this sadness fall rays of brightness through you being able to continue the great phytographic labours of Asa Gray in the spirit imbued from him! Vol. II of the Botany of California is already a monument of your masterly and extensive research.
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Vol. 2 of Brewer, Watson & A. Gray (1876-80) lists Watson on the title page as the sole author, although some groups were elaborated by specialists.
May you be spared to bring the great labours of your preceptor in his sense to a worthy conclusion.
If you allow me from long Australian experiences to offer a suggestion, it would be to this effect for the furtherance of the phytography of N. Am., that a statistic in a schematic form be published of all plants of the U.S. hitherto known. Without my "syst. Census"
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B83.03.04, and supplements.
(which doubtless you have) I should really not be able to command the field over the scattered litterature of the plants occurring as indigenous to the Austr. Continent and record their regional or geographic distribution. What a boon to us Extra-Americans such a work would be! for easy reference.
Could a system of interchanges be initiated on a easy method between our Museums of dried plants. What would be the safest and least expensive means of sending, such to be direct and expeditious. Your generous remarks about the dichotomous key are highly appreciated by me. The complete work I hope to send in July,
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Part 1, the text of the key proper, B88.11.02, was not published in July. At the time of this letter, Watson could have seen and commented upon B86.04.05 and perhaps some sheets of the concluding volume, although there is no evidence than possibly this letter that Watson received sheets as they were printed.
and before that Decades IX-XIII of Acacias.
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B88.11.02, B88.13.01.
With regardfulness your
Ferd. von Mueller.
The more I study plants, the more I become convinced that my alterations of the Juss-D.C. syst are justified.
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The more I study …are justified written in the centre and right-hand margins of the back of the third folio of the letter, without any indication of intended position.
Thymeleae

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are undoubtedly nearest related to
Rosaceae

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through
Cercocarpus

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&c
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Thymeleae

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are … &c written on the left and centre margins on the front of folio 3.
In the organography for the Key I excluded all wordings used in human anatomy & zoology.
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In the organography … & zoology written in the centre and right margins on the front of folio 3.