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 Gardeners2 is taking his passage to England simultaneously & has promised to supervise the plants during the voyage.3
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.4
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
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).
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 29 April 2024, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/vonmueller/letters/62-04-08a