8/4/62
Dear Sir William.
By favor of Capt Martin of the "Suffolk" I beg to send you an other Wardian Case, which with its contents I hope will safely reach you, as one of our Gardeners1 is taking his passage to England simultaneously & has promised to supervise the plants during the voyage.2
I should be delighted to hear, that they safely arrived & that they might one day furnish material for a few pages of that noble work, of which you dedicated the last volume to myself, a token of kindness as lasting as it is kind.3
I have also packed up a few roots of Damasonium ovalifolium (Ottelia ovalifolia) which may prove useful for your aquaria.
Ever with the kindest regards & the deepest solicitude for your health & happiness
your
Ferd. Mueller
Damasonium ovalifolium
Ottelia ovalifolia
Not identified.
Suffolk cleared out of Melbourne on 10 April (Argus, 11 April 1862, p. 4) and arrived in London (Gravesend) on 28 June (London Daily News, 30 June, 1862, p. 7).
The contents of 'A Wardian-Case (plants in bad condition)' were entered in the Kew Inwards book on 3 July 1862. The list contains 27 species, of which 15 are shown as 'dead' and 3 as 'bad' (RBG Kew, Kewensia, Kew Inwards Book 1859–1867, p. 145, entry No. 122).
Curtis's botanical magazine. See notes to M to W. Hooker, 24 March 1862 (in this edition as 62-03-24b).
MS black-edged; M's sister Bertha died on 7 September 1861.
Please cite as “FVM-62-04-08a,” 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