To Miles Berkeley   25 July 1860

Melbourne bot & zool Garden,

25. July 1860

Reverend & venerable Sir.1

The package of fungi, returned with so valuable notes by you, reached me only 2 weeks after its arrival in Melbourne, being evidently mislaid at the book-office. Hence it arose, that I could not already express to you by the last mail my deep sense of gratitude & my profound acknowledgement of your generosity of having coupled my humble name with yours, on which so long the brightest lustre of fame shed its rays.2 I was in no way entitled to the unexpected honor of becoming a mycologist, altho' I have lately after absolving the investigations into the phanerogamic flora of Australia more and more, given considerable attention to all signs of cryptogamic plants, & shall, if providence grants me life & health, continue to follow up the study.

I hope you will be so kind to draw up the diagnosis for publication in the (transactions or) proceedings of the L.S.3 and if any of the unique specimens you were so disinterested to return, are desired by you, they will at once be returned. Otherwise they will be a valuable addition to our publ. collection.

I trust you will allow me to name some noble tree of Eastern Australia after you and figure it in my Fragmenta, when I by this means take the opportunity of bearing public testimony to the aid I receive in the investigation of Australian plants.4

I received a few fungi from Dr H. Beckler, whom I sent on a botanical mission to the Clarence River.5 I have in the Governors despatchbag sent a few specimens of them to you, indeed one of each species. When closing the letter I find I can press them into an envelope; so they will reach you simultaneously with these lines.

Wishing you long life and constant health for the sake of science & your numerous friends,

I remain, dear and venerable Sir,

your humbly attached

Ferd Mueller

1

MS annotation by Berkeley:

'1.

2. Pol. versicolor

3. Ag. aspratus [&] Xylaria phosphorea

4. Ag. scabriusculus B. (pleurotus) [with 10]

5. Lent.

6. Pez. hirneoloides

7. Hern[i] hispidula

8. Ag penetrans

9.

10. Lenzites Beckleri, B

11. Ag [(lep)] Beckleri, B

12. Ster. lobatum

13. Cort. Auberianum

14. Pol. Xanthopus

15. Schiz-commune'.

(Blank entries against numbers 1 and 9.)

This list corresponds to the following fungi listed in Berkeley (1873):

'Polyporus (Inodermei) versicolor

Agaricus (Lepiota) aspratus

Agaricus ( Pleurotus) scabriusculus

Lentinus

Xylaria phosphorea

Peziza hirneoloides

Agaricus (Pleurotus) penetrans

Hirneola hispidula

Lenzites beckleri

Agaricus (Lepiota) beckleri

Stereum lobatum

Corticum auberianum

Polyporus xanthopus

Schizophyllum commune'.

2
No species jointly named by Berkeley and M validly published by 1860 can be found in the Interactive catalogue of Australian fungi http://data.rbg.vic.gov.au/cat/fungicatalogue (accessed 15 December 2016). However, in B61.02.01, p. 18, M lists Agaricus sonderi as a species jointly published with Berkeley. A. muelleri is also listed there; both were treated by the Interactive Catalogue of Australian Fungi as invalidly published. These species, presumably included as herbarium names with the specimens, were not published until Berkeley (1873), as A. sonderianusand Paxillus muelleri(both p. 159), and M was not then included as one of the authors.
3
Linnean Society, London.
4
IPNI does not list any genus or species published by Mueller based on the name Berkeley.
5
NSW.

Please cite as “FVM-60-07-25d,” 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 25 April 2024, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/vonmueller/letters/60-07-25d