To William Hooker1    24 May 1862

Melbourne bot. Garden

24. May 1862.

My dear Sir William.

I have not very much of interest to report by this mail. May being one of the most laborful months of the year, in consequence of the gardenwork & the distribution of plants to public reserves &c, I have not been able to give much attention to plant study since I wrote last. I have however issued an other number of the Fragmenta,2 which contains some curious & select things; have also prepared the greater part of a report on Fr Gregorys plants gathered in the expedition into N. W. Australia last year. Mr Gregory informs me, that also a set is sent to you;3 I shall therefore probably send the report home in manuscript, to be either appended to Gregorys journal or to be published in the Linnean proceedings, if the Society thinks the document of sufficient value for the purpose.4 This will afford an opportunity to revise it, if you deem it necessary. I had for instance no specimens to compare of Tribulus alatus, but believe that it is a widely diffused species, almost as variable as Tribulus terrestris. I have referred in the report to Pluckenet5 & to Woodward in regard to Dampiers plants.6 I find recently that Mr Moores timber No 157 recently sent home7 is Myrtus tenuifolia Sm. Of the genus Helicia we have now 5 Australian well marked species!

I am anxious to learn what you think about Osbornia 8

Ever dear Sir William,

Your

Ferd Mueller.

 

Helicia

Myrtus tenuifolia

Osbornia

Tribulus alatus

Tribulus terrestris

1
MS black edged; M's sister Bertha died on 7 September 1861.
2
B62.04.01.
3
that also ... to you is marked in the margin with a cross.
4
The report (B63.13.03) appeared in the Transactions of the Botanical Society of Edinburgh. There is no evidence that it was offered to the Linnean Society. See M to G. Bentham, 24 July 1862.
5
Plukenet?
6
Dampier (1729), Plukenet (1705). M wrote in B63.13.03, p. 480: 'some of the plants collected by ... [Dampier]... we find introduced by Dr Woodward into Dampier’s work, "Voyage to New Holland" (of which the edition of 1729 was accessible to me through the favor of the sons of Admiral P. P. King). Of other species, Dr. Woodward furnished an account in Plukenet’s "Amaltheum Botanicum," vol. iv., 1705'.
7
For the London International Exhibition, 1862; see International Exhibition 1862 (1861), p. 40.
8
B62.05.01, p. 31.

Please cite as “FVM-62-05-24a,” 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/62-05-24a