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92.04.00c

Plant names

Preferred Citation:

Ferdinand von Mueller to Albert Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire, 1892-04 [92.04.00c]. 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/1890-6/1892/92-04-00c-final.odt>, accessed June 4, 2026

1
Letter not found. The text given here is from Revue des sciences naturelles appliquées, vol. 39, part 2 (1892), p.39 ( B92.07.04). It is dated to April 1892 as the latest likely date that it could have been sent to have been read at the meeting of the Société nationale d'Acclimatation de France on 20 May 1892. It is introduced by 'M. le baron F. Von Mueller écrit de Melbourne (Australie), à M. le Président' [Baron F. Von Mueller writes from Melbourne (Australia), to the President].
Par le courrier de cette semaine, je me permets de vous envoyer des fruits frais, séchés avec soin et contenant des graines mûres de
Mesembrianthemum aequilaterale

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. Elles one été récoltées dernièrement pour être envoyées à la Société nationale d'Acclimatation. Si ce Mesembrianthemum était acclimaté dans le Sahara ou tous autres terrains salés, il deviendrait une grande resource pour les Chameaux. Quand l'expédition de Sir Thomas Elder's, conduite par M. Lindsay et que j'avais fait venir moi-même, explora en Australie le grand désert du sud de Victoria, elle fut sauvée par ces plantes, parce que, n'ayant pas trouvé d'eau pendant trente-quatre jours, les Dromadaires étanchèrent leur soif au moyen de ces végétaux.
By this week's mail I am sending you some fresh fruits, carefully dried, containing ripe seeds of
Mesembrianthemum aequilaterale

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. They were recently harvested to be sent to the Société nationale d'Acclimatation. If this Mesembrianthemum was acclimatized in the Sahara or any other salty ground, it would become a great resource for camels. When Sir Thomas Elder's expedition, led by Mr Lindsay, that I had myself brought about, explored the great southern Victoria Desert in Australia, it was saved by these plants because, not having found water in thirty-four days, the dromedaries slaked their thirst by means of these plants.
2
Lindsay (1893), passim, describes the plant used by the camels as 'parakylia', saying that 'this moist plant is as good as water' (p. 101). However, parakylia is normally considered to be a common name of Calandrinia.