Ferdinand von Mueller

1

MS found in a parcel of specimens of Calamus .

The letter is dated to early 1892 as the earliest likely date, on the assumption that the seed planted 'eighteen years ago' was planted by him soon after he was appointed as the foundation curator in 1873 (Aitken & Looker 2002, p. 196), and by his reference to having been in Sydney 'some months ago' (see n. 9 below). M was in correspondence about the identity and distribution of Livistona in the early 1890s, see M to W, Thiselton-Dyer, 18 February 1890, and M to W. Thiselton-Dyer 25 August 1890, in this edition as 90-08-25a. In M to the Gardener's Chronicle, March 1892 (in this edition as 92-03-00e) Edgar is mentioned in his discussion of Livistona species. No dating evidence can be obtained from the AVH records for MEL.

Botanic Gardens

Rockhampton

2

Qld. Address is stamped onto MS.

My Dear Baron

With reference to the Livistonas I dont think there is anything but one species indegenous to this district. The description given in the Flora Australiensis is a very good one.

3

Bentham (1863-78), vol. 7, pp. 146-7.

Only in our largest cultivated plant the leaves are 6 ft in diameter. Some years ago I came across some very dwarf plants of Livistona and was under the impression that they must be a different species to the tall one found in the moist gorges in the Bersaker Range.

4

Berserker Range, near Rockhampton?

The seed could be found round or on any of the plants. some time after a selector informed me that on some sandy ridges near his place there were some very small cabbage tree palms. I went and had a look at them they certainly were very small but further examination in moist rich soil soil

5

Word repeated.

some distance away a tree was found with a clear stem of 40 ft the birds had carried the seeds to the sandy country and during some excessively wet season some of them had germinated and had managed to exist for a number of years. The same thing has been done in our gardens excepting that I put down the seed instead of the birds. some seeds planted on the edge of a small gully eighteen years ago have produced plants having a crown of leaves about three feet hight without any appearance of a stem. Plants raised in pot from the same parcel of seed and planted out in well prepared ground have now clear stems from 5 to 6 ft and and

6

Word repeated in going from one line to the next.

a large crown of leaves. There is a cultivated plant here of L Australis which came here from Sydney soon after the gardens were started which has a very different appearance. The plate of L Australis in Nicholsons Dictionary of Gardening

7

Nicholson (1884-7), fig. 457, p. 287.

is an exact representation of our plant and no doubt the photo had been taken from a plant in Kew Gardens

8

Nicholson was described on the title pages as 'Of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew'.

which had been collected some where in New South Wales. When in Sydney a few months ago I went a trip to Kiama

9

South of Wollongong, NSW. Edgar is recorded as leaving Rockhampton on 22 October 1891 and returning on 29 November (Daily northern argus (Rockhampton), 22 October 1891, p. 2 and 1 December 1891).

and we passed by a number of tall plants of Livistona but to me they appeared to be more slender stemmed and the crown foliage much smaller than with us. I am of opinion that there is only one species of Livistona on the Eastern coast and that there are several varieties produced by climatic influence. For instance there is a plant here which was kept in a pot five or six years. And out of curiosity about nine years ago I had it planted in the dryest part of our grounds. The soil was not prepared in any way except digging a small hole in which to plant it and keeping it watered until it was established. that plant has grown very little larger since and from the ground to the tip of the longest leaf would not measure 2 ft yet the parent plant had a clear stem of at at least 60 ft. but it was growing in a moist mountain gorge any one meeting in the bush for the first time a dwarf plant such as I described and some time finding a clump of tall trees from 40 to 80 ft high would naturally take them for different species. I would not like to give an idea of the number of year required for providing my poor little plant with a 10 ft stem.

The first seeds you sent me of L mariae you mentioned as having been collected by the German Missionaries in Central Australia and that they required a very moist soil to grow in A second pkt came some time after Some of each germinated and when strong enough for planting out were planted in the same piece of ground (a very wet place) and are growing well. You did not mention where the second pkt had been collected. there appears to be no difference in them except that the first ones being older are larger plants

There is a very marked difference between them and Australis, very much more robust and upright in the foliage which is of a very rich bronzy colour. This may alter as the plant grow larger at present they are very interesting

Many of the introduced palms will become naturalised in this district in a few years notably The Sabals, Phoenis

10

Phoenix?

& Caryota sobilifera

11

Caryota sobolifera?

the birds carry away the fruit in quantities I have found young plants some considerable distance away from the garden already