Document information

Physical location:

GRG 19/391, State Records of South Australia, Adelaide. 90.10.19

Plant names

Preferred Citation:

Ferdinand von Mueller to Maurice Holtze, 1890-10-19. 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/90-10-19>, accessed September 11, 2025

19/10/90.
Ihr Calophyllum N.598 u 42 u N.1118, lieber Herr Holtze, ist C. Soulattri, Burmann. Es ist neu für Australien . Dies ist nun das Dritte, welches wir aus dem Australlande kennen. Da diese Bäume aber im Äussern einander ähneln, möchten noch andere Arten in Ihrer Nähe vorkommen.
Sollte ich Sie nicht bereits schon gebeten haben, keine getrocknete Pfl. nach Brisbane zu senden, so ersuche ich Sie jetzt darum, dies nicht zu thun (ich spreche aber privat), — aus Gründen die ich Ihnen später mittheilen will, u. die Sie werden gerechtfertigt finden.
Immer Ihr
Ferd. von Mueller
Ob Ihre N. 38 eine kleine Form von C. Soulattri ist, bleibt noch zu ermitteln, da die Blumen davon fehlen.
Gute Früchte (wohl gereift) habe ich auch noch nicht durch Sie von C. Soulattri. Dies zeigt Ihnen wieder, wie mir die Arbeit erschwert wird u. oft vergebens ist, wenn das Material unvollständig bleibt; — dazu kann man dann auch noch leicht in den Bestimmungen irren.
1177 ist vielleicht Utric. albiflora, RBr. obgleich die Unterlippe wenigsten zuweilen 5 spaltig ist. Ich werde die Pfl. im britischen Museum mit Exempl. die Sir Jos. Banks im Endeavour Flusse sammelte, vergleichen lassen. Sie ist nur durch ihn bisher gesammelt. Haben Sie noch mehr Ex. davon.
1
This final paragraph is on a separate undated fragment and is included here based on the topic.
Können unter 1177 möglicherweise 2 Pfl. Arten liegen? Mir scheint die Corolla bei einigen gelblich zu sein? mehr als aus dem Trocknen sich erklären lässt.
19/10/90.
Your Calophyllum Nos. 598,
2
Both Holtze record numbers 598 and 42 appear in MEL files as this species, collected in 1885; there is also an un-numbered specimen collected in 1890. Both numbers also appear, grouped together, in a list that includes numbers in the range inferred to be that of specimens announced as received in M to M. Holtze, 2 October 1890. Number 1118 is an additional specimen, undated in the MEL data but included in another fragment presumably written earlier than this letter. There is also a number 42 from another family, filed at MEL as Tarenna dallachiana subsp. expandens, but undated (AVH, accessed 2 June 2022).
42 and 1118, dear Mr Holtze, is C. Soulattri Burmann. It is new for Australia . This is now the third one known to us from the Australian continent. However, as these trees resemble each other in appearance, further species may occur in your vicinity.
Should I not have requested you before, not to send dried plants to Brisbane, then I ask you now not to do so (I am speaking in confidence) — for reasons which I will disclose to you later, and which you will find justified.
3
No later 'disclosure' to Holtze has been found. It probably related to M's view that F. M. Bailey in Brisbane was inclined to rush into print 'without the slightest critical study' (M to W. Thiselton-Dyer, 21 October 1890).
Always your
Ferd. von Mueller.
Whether your Nr 38
4
There are two specimens with record number 38 in MEL, one dated to 1885, the other without a date. M had noted that the 1885 specimen was without flowers in M to M. Holtze, 28 December 1885 (in this edition as 85-12-28a), where it was identified to genus only.
is a small form of C. soulattri still remains to be ascertained, as it lacks the flowers .
I have not yet received good fruits (well ripened) of C. soulattri from you, either. This demonstrates to you again how my work is made more difficult for me and often is to no avail, when the material remains incomplete — in addition it is also easy then to err in the identifications.
No. 1177 is perhaps
Utricularia albiflora

Search for Utricularia albiflora in

RBr., although the lower lip is at least occasionally 5-lobed. I will send the plant to the British Museum, to be compared with the specimens collected by Sir Joseph Banks at the Endeavour River. Until now it has been collected only by him . Do you have more specimens of it?
5
In later letters to N. Holtze, who had collected the Adelaide River Utricularia species sent with his father's consignment received in October 1890, M again asked for more specimens so that he could send some to be compared with those Banks had collected at the Endeavour River, Qld; see M to N. Holtze, 12 February 1893 (in this edition as 93-02-12a), and M to N. Holtze, 13 February 1893.
Is it possible that 2 species are under No 1177? The corolla appears to me to be yellow in some of them? — more than is explained just through the drying.