Document information

Physical location:

RB MSS M20, Library, Royal Botanic Gardens Melbourne. 91.07.01b

Plant names

Preferred Citation:

Ralph Tate to Ferdinand von Mueller, 1891-07-01 [91.07.01b]. 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/1890-6/1891/91-07-01b-final.odt>, accessed June 4, 2026

1
MS found with a specimen of Maireana Scleroptera (MEL 42020).
THE UNIVERSITY
ADELAIDE
July 1. 1891
My dear Baron
Out of a collection of 29 species gathered by Dr Stirling
2
Edward Charles Stirling.
between lat 17° & 24° on the Trans-continental Telegraph Line are a few which offer difficulties for me in the way of their determinations, chiefly because of the paucity of specimens & immature condition of the floral organs.
no 5.
Kochia

Search for Kochia in

n. sp. The horizontal wings in the form of stiff oblong rays.
no 7.
may be Urticaceous.
no 13.
Thryptomene aff mucronulata.
A not very satisfactory dissection of one flower seemed to reveal 1-celled ovary with the ovules laterally attached in 2 clusters of 6 to 8.
The two large semidecurrent and unilaterally-disposed bracteoles are prominent characteristics.
no 15.
Melaleuca n. sp. The stamens are in 5 bundles of about 10, but are very shortly united. The colour of the stamens & the foliage separate it from the other Callistemonoid species. The venulation of the leaf approximates to that of M . leucadendron .
no 25.
Order Indeterminate
no 27.
Cyperid. Genus? There seem to be 2 hermaphrodite flowers in each spikelet & flat membranous hypogynous scales to each flower.
I have been solicited to present a few notes on the collection to the next meeting of the Royal Society (6th inst.); and as the collection has been in my hands only a few days I have found that in the press of other work and in view of the imperfection of the material representing genera & species unfamiliar to me; I hereby ask your cooperation in respect of the unidentified material.
3
See M to R. Tate, 5 July 1891. The meeting of the Royal Society of South Australia was held on 7 July, not 6 July, when 'Professor Tate ably described some native plants … collected by Dr Stirling' (South Australian register, 8 July 1891, p. 5). The notes were published in the volume for the following year (Tate (1892)).
Yrs very truly
Ralph Tate
P.S. The specimens as
4
are intended?
sent herewith as a postal-parcel.