To William Hooker1    20 April 1863

Melbourne bot. Garden

20./4/63

My dear Sir William.

It is my intention, to send you pr. “Great Britain”, which noble ship will leave our port at the end of this month, the whole of the Australian ferns of my herbarium for inspection. Probably you will find little of interest & no novelty amongst the plants, but they will afford you an opportunity of supplementing the habitats for your great “species filicum”2

I have written a few general notes on the distribution of ferns, and these, I have no doubt, will be not unacceptable.

I feel always so proud, to receive your letters, though the pleasure is mingled with sorrow, when I see so much of your valuable time devoted to me!

The 3. vol of my Fragmenta will probably be forwarded by this mail. My annual report, to which the enumeration of Stuarts & Howitts Expedition plants is appended, by next mail.3

The Fragmenta will probably be at a standing still for a while, as I am anxious to work up all the Leguminosae & Myrtaceae for the flora of Victoria & forward them to Mr Bentham so rapidly, as to cause no delay in his work.

Would you kindly ask him, whether he wants any other Calyciflorae prior to Myrtaceae & Leguminosae. In the Flora of Hong Kong4 an interposition of several smaller orders exists between these two large ones, [&] thought the latter would so completely in them selfes fill up a volume, Mr Bentham may prefer an other sequence, of which then I would be glad to be informed.

Allow me to remain with grateful attachment  yours

Ferd Mueller.

 

The Case N. 9 pr. Suffolk (with Extravictorian Leguminosae & Bossiaea) shipped on the 20 Jan. must have reached you ere this. The mailsteamer "Madras" took in February a case with supplemental collections of Thalamiflorae.5 I hope these also arrived.

 

Bossiaea

Calyciflorae

Leguminosae

Myrtaceae

Thalamiflorae

1
Annotated by W. Hooker: 'Dispatch of Dr. Mueller's Ferns'.
2
W. Hooker (1846-64).
3
B63.05.01.
4
Bentham (1861a).
5
Case number 10, with 8 parcels of plants, was sent on 22 February 1863 (RB MSS M44, Notebook recording despatch of plants for Bentham for Flora australiensis, Library, Royal Botanic Gardens Melbourne).

Please cite as “FVM-63-04-20,” 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 28 April 2024, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/vonmueller/letters/63-04-20