Melbourne bot. Garden,
18. Aug 62
My dear Professor!
I have forwarded on the 8. Aug. pr. ship Moravian in a box, containing several collections for the Muséum d'histoire naturelle, also a parcel for you, containing some Euphorbiaceae, a few Urticeae, the only 3 Australian Aristolochieae known to me, the few Cupuliferae we have, the 2 or 3 Piperaceae, several Laurineae and Coniferae. I trust, poor & imperfect as the specimens are, that nonetheless they will be of some little use in the elaboration of the new volume of the Prodromus.1 I wished the distance was not so great & you were living at a seaport, I would then have forwarded you my whole normal collection of the orders now required on loan. But as they have not yet been worked up for my flora of Victoria I could not run the risk of the loss on so long a voyage & journey, as it would deprive me of the material for my work, issued under authority of the Government here. I have for instance several huge fascicles of Callitris, but could not attempt to break the series of forms in the state-herbarium. If Prof. Parlatore however desires my opinion on the circumscription of the species of this genus, I will be very happy to elaborate it for the prodromus.2 I admit only about 6 species in all Australia, including Octoclinis as one & Actinostrobus as an other. On Araucaria Rulei Prof. Parlatore will find a note in my "essay on the plants of the Burdekin" expedition.3 (Araucaria Rulei is figured in Lindleys Gardeners Chronicle.4) and in the same essay I reduced Octoclinis (figured in the transact of the Vic. phil. Institute)5 & Actinostrobus to Callitris. Unfortunately the copies of this essay and of my report on the plants of Babbage's expedition6 are entirely out of print, so that I have been unable to send them to you, but as many copies have gone at the time of publication to Europe, I have no doubt that one will be accessible to you & your collaborators.
Some of the plants sent now are published in the transactions of the Victorian Institute, Dammara robusta is fully described by me in the pharmaceutical journal of Victoria7 and others in my Fragmenta. If you desire it, I will be glad to give notes on the range of those Australian species, which will next pass into the prodromus. Otherwise I intend to publish after the edition of the next volume of the prodromus a supplement to the Polyganeae, Proteaceae, Thymeleae &c. That it will not be inconsiderable may be demonstrated by the fact of not less than 5 species of Helicia occurring in our collection here.
I have asked Prof Decaisne to be so very kind to forward the parcel to you. On the 8 April I had the honor of forwarding to you pr "Suffolk" under care of Dr Sonder the 1 vol of my "plants of Victoria",8 which I trust reached you & will be mildly judged by you. I intended to send you also the 2 vol of the Fragmenta but had at the moment no copy available. It is however obtainable at Ballières meanwhile, until I can send a copy.
It was with much grief that I heard of the heavy loss, which you suffered in your family and which I could feel so much more, mourning myself.9 It must be a great consolation to you, that a brave and promising son10 is following the glorious path which you & your illustrious father have opened for descriptive botany and that you have left a heir for your fame & for your researches
Ever with admiration & regard your
Ferd. Mueller
I have sent of all my Cycadeae & the Ficus of my collections specimens to Prof Miquel some time since. I presume his observations will be offered in time to be incorporated into the prodromus.11 I omitted yet to remark, that neither the Euphorbiaceae nor the Laurineae transmitted have been subjected to a rigorous examination. Hence you & Prof Meisner will kindly regard the names attached to them as temporary ones, corresponding to journal notes & where ever they are untenable I would be extremely glad, to see that they should not be quoted as synonyms
Actinostrobus
Araucaria Rulei
Aristolochieae
Callitris
Coniferae
Cupuliferae
Cycadeae
Euphorbiaceae
Ficus
Helicia
Laurineae
Octoclinis
Piperaceae
Polyganeae
Proteaceae
Thymeleae
Urticeae
These groups were dealt with in volumes 15 (1) by Duchartre (1864) and Meissner (1864); 15 (2) by J. Müller (1866); 16 (1) by Weddell (1869) and C. de Candolle (1869); 16 (2) by Parlatore (1868) and A. de Candolle (1864). Weddell does not specifically cite specimens from de Candolle's herbarium but includes many he has seen without naming an herbarium; the others all cite some specimens from that herbarium.
Parlatore (1868), pp.452-3, recognised only Callitris quadrivalvis, moving M's C. columellaris and C. parlatorei to Frenela. M considered that Parlatore 'over-rated … the Frenelas' (M to G. Bentham, 28 February 1872) and in his Census (B83.03.04, B89.12.03) retained Callitris for species Parlatore had placed in Frenela.
B60.13.12.
Araucaria Rulei ... Chronicle is a marginal insertion. See B61.09.01, an extract from B60.13.12, illustrated with a woodcut of drawings supplied by M.
B57.09.03.
B59.03.01.
B60.10.01.
B62.03.03.
De Candolle's married daughter, Valentine Jeanne Francoise Pictet, died on 10 November 1861, aged 28; M was mourning his sister Bertha.
Casimir de Candolle.
A. de Candolle (1868) cites Miquel (1863), his most recent work dealing with Australian members of the tribe Cycadeae. Bureau (1873), pp. 287-8 gives a very brief treatment of the tribe Ficeae to genus level only, citing Miquel (1861-2), Bentham 1863-78), vol. 6, and B68.06.03, p. 195 (i.e., pp. 194-7) for treatment of Australasian material.
MS black-edged; M's sister Bertha had died on 7 September 1861.
Please cite as “FVM-62-08-18b,” 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