To Ronald Gunn   14 December 1858

Melb. bot. & zoolg. Garden,

141 Dec. 1858.

My dear Mr Gunn,

I beg to return by this mail your specimens of Gunnia, which you so obligingly forwarded. One of them I retained. It is with regret to say, that the plant cannot rank as a separate genus, and Prof. Lindley would not have removed it from Sarcochilus, had any one spec. of that genus at the time been properly known, only R Br definition of Sarcochilus falcatus being then available. Since six or seven new Sarcochili have been found in East Australia & India, which break any limit between Gunnia & Sarcochilus down, at least according to my view of genera. I am infinitely sorry, that now little hope is left, to celebrate your name with a Tasmanian genus, but I will strive for the resurrection of the Gunnia in Australia, and ere long Mr Oldfields or Mr Babbage's collection, I do not doubt, will offer the opportunity. Mr Gregory's plants from Coopers Creek2 did contain no new genus, and those from North Australia are now all dedicated.

Your letter3 reached me a few days too late to stop the publication of the Sarcochilus4 together with other parasitical Orchids, amongst which Dendrobium Milligani is the most interesting.

I beg to send you to day the last spare copy of my report5 & a copy of Mr Gregorys last report,6 the latter document you will perhaps be so kind after perusal to send to the Royal Society of Tasmania.

Thanking you for your friendly attention and kindness, and wishing you the best health & all prosperity

I remain, my dear Mr Gunn,

your very humble

Ferd. Mueller

 

Dr Hooker misled me by describing the sepals of Gunnia as yellow; they are green.7 To Prof Lindley I sent an Apollo Bay specimen in January but received no answer.

If I could get at any time a few flowers of your second Patersonia in a phiol of Brandy, I would gladly determine it

 

Dendrobium Milligani

Gunnia

Patersonia

Sarcochilus falcatus

 
14 replacing13. deleted.
During his Leichhardt search expedition, 1858.
Letter not found.
Presumably S. gunnii (B59.02.03, p. 90).
B58.05.01?
Gregory (1858a) or (1858b)?
See M to J. Hooker, 15 December 1858.

Please cite as “FVM-58-12-14,” in Correspondence of Ferdinand von Mueller, edited by R.W. Home, Thomas A. Darragh, A.M. Lucas, Sara Maroske, D.M. Sinkora, J.H. Voigt and Monika Wells accessed on 29 March 2024, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/vonmueller/letters/58-12-14