To [George Bentham]1    1865

[early 1865]2

 

Is it not a pity to exclude Laurineae from the higher Calyciflorae. — Only when the monochlamydeous plants are reduced to Gymnogens & Amentaceae we can hope to establish a true system of affinity,3 and this will probably be the arrangement I shall adopt for the "Plants of Victoria"

Melaleuca ericifolia is the plant here usually employed for making garlands to decorate public buildings with festoons &c. This may be worthy of notice in the work.4

The draft transmitted will liquidate my account, also £1 paid by Dr Hooker for dissecting instruments; the rest can go towards future payments on genera plantarum.5

 

Amentaceae

Calyciflorae

Gymnogen

Laurineae

Melaleuca ericifolia

 
1
MS annotation: 'vol. iii', i.e. Bentham (1863-78), vol. 3. The correspondent is most likely to have been Bentham, as M wrote such short notes to him during preparation of Flora australiensis.
2
editorial addition. Dated from the reference to J. Hooker purchasing dissecting instruments for M. They were requested in M to J. Hooker, 25 June 1864 and receipt acknowledged in M to J. Hooker, 22 December 1864.
3
See Maroske (2006) for an analysis of M’s views on systems of classification.
4
This use was not mentioned in the entry in Flora australiensis.
5
Bentham & Hooker (1862-83).

Please cite as “FVM-65-00-00c,” 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 26 April 2024, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/vonmueller/letters/65-00-00c