To William Hooker1    29 January 1862

Melbourne bot. & zool. Garden

29. Jan. 62

Dear Sir William.

I have much pleasure in enclosing a bill of loading of a case with 9 fascicles of Thalamiflorae sent for Mr Benthams perusal pr. Great Britain to your adress. The case is soldered and contains the following parcels: Droseraceae 1. Frankeniaceae 1, Bursaria 1, Hymenosporum, Rhytidosporum & Sollya 1, Citriobatus and Ixiosporum 1, Billardiera 1, Homalosporum,2 Cheiranthera & Marianthus 1, Pittosporum 2, Total 9. I had the large parcel of Violarinae also ready, which would have finished off the Parietineous Group of orders, but the case would not take it. — I have to do some work on the Sapindaceae before sending them, but will forward them during february, making every month one consignment, one having gone before this per Young Australian — I mentioned in one of my former letters, that I should be glad to place at your disposal such of the duplicates in these normal collections as without breaking the series of forms can be separated, leaving sufficient for working.3

Mr Bright4 goes in the Great Britain as one of the Commissioners with a large amount of articles from here to the Exhibition. I have still added to the wood collection[s] pr Great Britain The case of Wood Books, finally to be presented by Mr Champ5 to the Kew Museum also a box with sundry resins, oils &c are gone by the Great Britain. The Eucalyptus oils are important; any quantity is obtainable and with proper apparatus they can be distilled in the ranges at less than 6/ a gallon. They dissolve Cautchouc and make capital varnishes in dissolving various resins and are also excellent as lightening material. The jurors here have very extensively investigated these oils.

Sir Redm. Barry has gone by last mail steamer. I have written to him6 requesting that all the wood[s] resin[s] & other veg. products might be rendered finally available for your grand Museum.

Dr Hooker no doubt will have occasion to see him.

ever your

Ferd Mueller.

 

I would not advise Mr Bentham to put more than Thalamiflorae into the 1 vol. Big volumes are inconvenient for use. I hope Dr Hooker will distribute all the Monochlamydeae over Thalmiflorae Calyci — & Coralli-florae[,]7 retaining only Cupuliferae & Gymogens.8 Thereby the most artificial partition of the Juss & DC Syst would be made natural. Pray let Mr Bentham kindly return the plants whenever they are revised. The jurors report9 will be sent I think by next mail.

 

Billardiera

Bursaria

Calyciflorae

Cheiranthera

Citriobatus

Coralliflorae

Cupuliferae

Droseraceae

Eucalyptus

Frankeniaceae

Homalosporum

Hymenosporum

Ixiosporum

Marianthus

Monochlamydeae

Pittosporum

Rhytidosporum

Sapindaceae

Sollya

Thalmiflorae

Violarinae

 
1
MS black edged; M's sister Bertha Doughty died on 7 September 1861.
2
Homalosporum has not been found in the standard plant names indexes but M used it as a section name within Marianthus in B59.12.02, p. 127, and in B62.03.03 stated 'Homalosporum may either be regarded as a subgenus of Marianthus, or, chiefly on account of its perfectly flat seeds, as generically distinct' (p. 77).
3
See M to W. Hooker, 25 December 1861 (in this edition as 61-12-25a).
4
Charles Edward Bright.
5
W. T. N. Champ.
6
See M to R. Barry, 27 January 1862.
7
editorial addition.
8
Gymnogens [=Gymnosperms]? M's suggestion that this arrangement be made in Genera Plantarum (Bentham & Hooker (1862–83)) was not followed; see Maroske (2006).
9
Victorian Exhibition, 1861 (1862).

Please cite as “FVM-62-01-29a,” 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 27 April 2024, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/vonmueller/letters/62-01-29a