From William Hooker¹    15 June 1853

Royal Gardens Kew

June 15 1853.

My dear Sir,

Having been engaged lately in printing your interesting notes² on the Australian vegetation, I was most agreeably surprised, a few days ago on receiving a letter from yourself, dated "Camp at Darebin Creek, Victoria,"³ and still more by the welcome intelligence that you were engaged in a botanical tour in the interior, and placed by Governor La Trobe as the head of a Botanical Gardens at Melbourne.⁴ This is exactly as it should be. I shall write to the Governor by this day's post,⁵ and thank him for his services thus rendered to our favourite science. Your letter has afforded great pleasure to my son, Dr Hooker, as well as to myself. He is much interested also in the Australian Flora. He has just finished (that is the printing and plates are nearly completed), the Flora of New Zealand in 2 volumes with 140 plates,⁶ and then he falls to work on the Flora of Van Diemen's Land⁷ for which we have great material, mainly due to Mr. Ronald Gunn and a few zealous Botanist residents there. The alpine vegetation is peculiarly interesting and now I am thankful to say we can look to you for a great deal of valuable information respecting the plants of this great continent of Australia. I am sure you will be welcome to any information we can give you or any plants we can send you.

I would take leave, however, to suggest something like the following plan as the best for a proposed tour for the flora of Australia proper. Your main reliance must be on dried specimens. You will by your own exertions and the exertions of others procure specimens of all the species you possibly can, and not single specimens but many, and in as many states of flower or fruit as possible. By any or all of these, especially all except the most common, or familiarly known, you will perhaps communicate specimens to me with numbers attached as responding with numbers to the same plants in your own collection. Thus we can compare them with the named plants in our great Herbarium and send you correct names and any remarks by letter. You will of course, whether the plant is young or old, make your notes of specific character, and thus you can find the correct names to your description as well as to the plant.

It must be a long time before such notes will be read to constitute a Flora, but having new descriptions made is a step towards it, and when sufficiently full it will not be difficult to put them, in order for publication. But I do not think that Dr Hooker or anyone could pledge himself to any further aid until the time comes for the publication.

A most important work it will assuredly be. It might perhaps be very desirable to publish a sort of Prodromus on the Flora of South Australia in the meanwhile just as Preiss has published the Flora of the Swan river settlement.⁸ I am aware how thick and bulky many of the specimens are of Australian Flora and how very deficient our Herbarium is on that account of some red⁹ kinds. I have lately had large cabinets with suitable drawers to receive the numerous large species of Banksia, Stypandra, Hakea and many of the stout-growing mosses and Acotyledonous plants already in our possession, and these are placed in our very fine Botanical Museum, for without this a botanist cannot determine some of the most curious of Australian plants. Lately we had a Xanthorrhea¹⁰ flowering in our greenhouse. Mr Brown¹¹ diagnosed one eminently short and unsatisfactory of this genus, and the difficulty I had in determining the plant was great beyond anything; and though I have figured it in the Botanical magazine¹² I am doubtful if I have given the right name for want of good and authentic specimens from Sydney to name it with, for ours is a Sydney species. You most justly observe that, owing to brief and imperfect diagnosis not enabling us to decide from species it is immediately set down as a new one, and the science thus encumbered with many more new species than are in a genus. Mr Bentham is gone for many months to the continent and he is when at home, wholly absorbed in his vast collections. Mr Brown, now in this 80th year feels the infirmities of age upon him, and this month has retired from the Presidency of the Linnean Society on account of his inability for the duties. You desire seeds of our Australian plants with names etc. To such as we have you shall be welcome. Comparatively few however bear seed with us (though they flower very readily), for want of insects probably to fertilise them, and of hot weather to perfect the stamens and pistils. I have ordered the seeds of these plants as gathered for you and it was worth the same doing if you can send your young plants which we raise from Australian seeds. But as I said before, I think you will do best to rely upon your Hortus siccus for authority for correct names, and perhaps you do better to receive from us useful and ornamental plants which are exotics to you.

If again you will only tell me the kinds you like. Have you the famous Chines Grass-cloth, [...]¹³ It would flourish well with you. Your Panaxes must be very curious. I have now the famous Rice paper plants growing, which is either a Panax or some closely-related plant. It will at all times give me pleasure to hear from you.

Truly and faithfully yours,

W. J. Hooker.

Any of your rare or new plants would be acceptable and always seeds of Proteaceae, which are difficult to germinate(?)¹⁴ with us.

To Dr Mueller.

Banksia

Hakea

Panax

Proteaceae

Stypandra

Xanthorrhea