To William Hooker   12 May 1858

Melbourne bot. Garden,

12. May 1858.

My dear Sir William.

Again the time for sending our monthly letters is approaching and I will therefore devote an evening hour to you and Dr Hooker. — I have not heard from you by the last mail, at least not directly, altho' our brave friend Harvey has not failed to give me some tidings from Kew.¹ I heard also from Mr Kippist² & feel greatly obliged for the kind revisal of my Eucalypti & Acaciae; mentioned by him —, as undertaken by Dr Hooker & Mr Bentham.³ — As an humble reciprocation I beg to offer a set of remarks this time on the Tasmanian Epacrideae, from which Dr Hooker may possibly elicit something for the supplement[s.] — Whilst I have but two new spec of this order to offer, I have found it inavoidable, to disregard some of the species enumerated by Dr Hooker as such, and come to the conclusion, that my herbarium must be richer in middle-forms than his material. I was acquainted with the genus Archeria since the beginning of last year, but considered it unfair to describe it, until I had seen, whether your learned son had got the plants. I am longing for the 5th fascicle of the fl. Tasm. very much, which I learn has lately reached Hobarton.⁴ Probably I shall be able to furnish some notes to it. Gladly would I have consulted the plates of Pilitis, doubtless a subgenus of Lystanthe,⁵ for you will remember, that Leucopogon and other epacrideous genera species with & without hypogynous scales occur! — Speaking of Epacrideae I may also mention, that I find, Ponceletia cannot be kept separate from Sprengelia.

Since the despatch of my last letter, which contained an account of some new plants from Tasmania, I have ascended Mount Juliett,⁶ at the sources of the Yarra, elev. about 4000', so that no alpine plants occur. On the summit I found for the first time a regular beech-forest in Victoria, every other tree had nearly given way to the Fagus Cunninghami, except Atherosperma moschatum. I found only a few plants additional to the Victorian Flora Didymodon longifolius, [Lopho]colea triacantha, Plagiochila deltoidea⁷, the smallflowering hibertia⁸ from V.DL & a Carex, new to me but probably described likewise in the Tasmanian flora. However the place was not devoid of rareties. Solanum vascum,⁹ Prostanthera melissifolia, Hydrocotyle ger[o]nifolia¹⁰ &c occuring —

A merchant of this city Mr Hick, will probably show me the kindness of forwarding to you a parcel of pamphlets, as he is going home. A collection of sundry articles will be made up to go in a few weeks by the Avon "under care of the surgeon-superintendent" My dear Sir William, pardon me when I solicit to pay out of the funds you are kindfully holding for me to Mr Pamplin whatever more he may ask for making up the ful order of books for me. I can save little or nothing from my salary and found it [un]possible to make a larger remittance to him than 40£, whilst I have ordered from him to double the amount. Should he feel inclined to act for me as agent in general, perhaps you would be so friendly as to pay him the whole amount [over], as I am indeed ashamed to trouble you with such trifles.

I have since writing the above lines examined the little Epacrideous plant from Mount Laperouse and detected fortunately a seedvessel on it buried in the leaves. The specimen contained only 3 flowers, one of which I dissected & can prove now that it is a true Dracophyllum! altho' not larger than a moss. If I say a Dracophylum, I mean that it is a congener of the plants of that name from N. Z & the antarctic Islands. But if we lay equal [principles] for the separation of Epacrideous genera down, these are not identical with the typical species from N. Caledonia & N.S. Wales, because their calyx is bracteate & their stamens are epipetalous. — Otherwise we must also unite Archeria with Epacris and so forth. I propose the name of Dracothamnus¹¹ for the N.Z Tasmanian & antarctic species of Dracophyllum. Of this new second species from Tasmania I send now the only specimen I possess, indeed the only one Mr Oldfield noticed! also all the fragments, from which I drew the description up, so that I hope you will be able to satisfy your self of the correctness of my views.¹²

Should Prionotes with its two allied anthers not go into true Ericeae? — Its crenulate foliage seems so unlike to anything also in Epacrideae, reminding rat[her]¹³ of Gaultherea.¹⁴

Mr Kippist expresses a desire, to see my name inserted in the list of the Linneans. With all appreciation for the honor, I can hardly under my present circumstances aford to become a life-member, unless an advantage should arise so far, as that the L.S. would feel the more inclined to honor any writings of mine with their publi[shing] — But I shall feel happy to be a member and pay my usual entrance fee & this years subscription, which you are perhaps so kind to defray out of my little fund. And perhaps I may become in course of time so useful to the society as to become a foreign member. Not being able to enjoy the advantage of attending the meetings, the museum & library, it might almost apear mere vanity to become a member; But I leave the whole arrangement with particular pleasure to your judgement, and have only to thank you and Dr Hookers kind intention of proposing me to the membership.¹⁵

Wishing you, my dear Sir William,

continued health & happiness, I remain

your ever very humble

Ferd. Mueller.

Acacia

Archeria

Atherosperma moschatum

Carex

Didymodon longifolius

Dracophyllum

Dracothamnus

Epacrideae

Epacris

Ericeae

Eucalyptus

Fagus Cunninghami

Gaultherea

Hibertia

Hydrocotyle geronifolia

Leucopogon

Lophocolea triacantha

Lystanthe

Pilitis

Plagiochila deltoidea

Ponceletia

Prionotes

Prostanthera melissifolia

Solanum vascum

Sprengeli