Melbourne Botanical Gardens
September 18, 1865.
Allow me, dear Sir, to express to you my grateful acknowledgment for your circumspect kindness in sending me, for this garden, some roots of the jalappa plant,1 which I had not hitherto in cultivation here. I will give it a fair trial; and even should it not prove so hardy here as in your genial clime, the plant will be highly interesting for my conservatories. If I can render any reciprocal acknowledgment, pray command my services. I acknowledge the donation on behalf of the Acclimatisation Society.
Respectfully yours,
Ferd. Mueller.
M has a note on the Jalap plant, a source of the medicinal purgative 'jalap root', under Ipomoea purga in B72.13.02 (p. 313) and B76.12.04 (p.109) and subsequent editions.
In his annual report, B65.10.01 (in this edition as 65-09-30), M credits L. A Bernays as the source of the plant; the report of the meeting of the Victorian Acclimatisation Sociey held on 26 September 1865 (Age, 27 September 1865, p. 4) states that Bernays presented the bulbs on behalf of the Queensland Acclimatisation Society.
Letter not found. For the text given here, see the report of the meeting of the Queensland Acclimatisation Society held on 16 October 1865 (Brisbane courier, 17 October 1865. p. 7; B65.10.07).
Please cite as “FVM-65-09-18,” 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