Document information

Physical location:

RB MSS M1, Library, Royal Botanic Gardens Melbourne. 92.07.17

Plant names

Preferred Citation:

Augustus Simson to Ferdinand von Mueller, 1892-07-17. 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/1890-6/1892/92-07-17-final.odt>, accessed May 15, 2026

1
MS found with a specimen of Pomaderris racemosa (MEL 55555). Attached to the MS are two labels by Simpson: ' 1252 . Epacris lanuginosa [with a question mark through it, presumably by Simson] hab in stoney bed of stream near George's Bay. tall shrub, 7 or 8 feet high. 1 Oct /78 .', and: ' 1296 . Thelymitra aristata . Harefield St. Mary's, Nov /78 '.
Launceston, 17th July, 1892.
My Dear Sir,
I duly received your notes & my list of plants,
2
Neither notes nor list found.
for which I am much obliged. I have not yet seen Mr. Gunn, to ask him abt. his Father's doings at the Lakes; I fear he will not know anything abt. it. I will look for
Lemna

Search for Lemna in

s when I have the chance. — I note you have kept back No. 2369 .
3
No Simson specimen with this collection number is listed in AVH.
My fishermen-friends go generally too late in the season to do much; further, though two of them notice strange plants, they are so eager after fishing , that they are not likely to notice anything, except on the lake shore. They begin early & keep on fishing often till 11 or 12 at night.
Dillwynia peduncularis

Search for Dillwynia peduncularis in

. from near Avoca.
4
Tas.
— I have seen but once, & I have not got, or seen, D. ericaefolia ; I will keep a look-out.
Haloragis heterophylla — is this a synonym for ceratophylla ? In your "Key to the System of Victorian Plants", No 1 .
5
B88.11.02.
— last-named is not mentioned, though it is in No. 2 .
6
B86.04.05, p. 22.
in the Systematic list of Plants.
Boronia elatior

Search for Boronia elatior in

. flowers are not scented.
Pomaderris subrepanda

Search for Pomaderris subrepanda in

. I note is an addition to the Tasmanian Flora; I send you two specimens additional. — Will try for some more first chance; I can find the exact spot again, nr. Avoca.
Trochocarpa disticha

Search for Trochocarpa disticha in

. Nos. 2495 & 2499. — With one of these there is what I took for the fruit, but which must have been an abnormal growth, I imagine. The calyx had become fleshy, & there were like fruits, this shape,
7
A sketch follows:
coming out of it, white & pale pinkish color, waxy looking, so that when I found the second lots, with bluish berries, I thought they must be different species.
The plant you have omitted from your list of additions to Tasmanian Flora, in last year's Proceedings of Royal Society of Tasmania is
Helipterum exiguum

Search for Helipterum exiguum in

— which I found on "Brady's Look-out," near Swansea,
8
Tas.
on my wedding trip in Oct. 1881, & sent you some time later, & you gave me the name.
9
Letters not found.
I send you a specimen, the only one I have , of a Candollea (Stylidium) — I got at Table-cape in Jany. last. The flowers were white & are very small. There were more abt. like it, but I have lost them. Is it only a variety of C. graminifolium ?
10
M listed C. graminifolia in B83.03.04, p. 85, but it was not listed in B89.02.03, where C. serrulata, the earlier name used for the species, was listed in its place.
Another I send is what I had in my list as Gnaphalium alpigenum , & I think you did not look at it. It seems to me now not to be a Gnaphalium at all, but I do not know what it is. Would you mind looking at it again?
Hearing from Rodway
11
Leonard Rodway.
that he got Corysanthes bicalcarata from Georges' Bay, I compared my specimens of C. pruinosa with one he sent of C. bicalcarata , & I fancy one batch I got in 1877 may be the last-named. Enclosed are two specimens. If so I have had it nearly 15 years , without knowing it!! I did not know there were more than one species, so concluded it must be C. pruinosa .
With many thanks for your kindness, & apologies for troubling you again,
I am, my dear Sir,
Your very truly,
Aug Simson
Baron F. von Müller, F.R.S.
Melbourne .