Document information

Physical location:

RB MSS M1, Library, Royal Botanic Gardens Melbourne. 94.01.19

Plant names

Preferred Citation:

Patrick Shepherd to Ferdinand von Mueller, 1894-01-19. 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//letters/1890-6/1894/94-01-19-final.odt>, accessed June 13, 2026

1
MS found with a specimen of Grevillea asplenifolia (MEL 14279) collected near Cape Jervis, NSW, by one of Shepherd's sons, 1894. The specimen NSW92331 is accompanied by a note from 'L. Shepherd', presumably Patrick Shepherd's eldest son, Lindesay (1858-1933).
MS annotation by M: 'Answ 22/1/94'. Letter not found.
202 Pitt Street
Sydney 19/1/94
My Dear Baron,
I have just received some fruits of
Grevillea Shepherdi

Search for Grevillea Shepherdi in

2
At the 15 January 1894 meeting of the Field Naturalists' Club of Victoria, M exhibited 'the variety Shepherdiana of Grevillea asplenifolia … from Cole River, near Jervis Bay' (Victorian Naturalist, vol. 10, p. 151). The name Grevillea shepherdi is given in Maiden & Betche (1916), p. 59, with a note 'Mueller proposed in 1893 the name G. Shepherdi for a species from the Nattai River differing from. G. asplenifolia chiefly in the narrow entire leaves, but he never published the description, probably because he regarded it later on as a form of G. asplenifolia.…'.
which I now enclose under separate cover, they have been a good deal knocked about but I trust they will be in sufficiently good preservation to enable you to describe the plant. My Son tells me he came upon a few plants quite 12 feet high but as stated before
3
Shepherd is clearly referring to the plant sent with P. Shepherd to M, 27 December 1893, although he does not there specify the normal height of the plant, suggesting that there are other related letters not found.
the average height is about 8 feet. There is only one seed in each pod and in no case could he find a single serrated leaf all being plain as pr samples a few more of which I enclose with seeds
With kindest regards
My Dear Baron
Yours sincerely
P. L. C. Shepherd
Baron von Mueller K.C.M.G.
Govt. Botanist
Melbourne