To George Bentham¹    5 February 1866

5./2./66.

Dear Mr Bentham.

I have done a little among gnaphaloid Compositae, but the work of defining the genera anew involves much patient research extended not only to the Australian but also the N. Zeal and S. African species. I re-examined the plant I formerly took for Leptorrhynchus² nitidulus & find some specimens of it congenerous of Rutidosis & shall publish them as R. leptorrhynchoides. They are found lately at Station Peak. I feel now convinced, that Rhus viticifolia is not different from R. tomentosa & merely a gardenplant. At Leichhardts time a good many S. African plants were in cultivation in the Sydney bot Garden & he did collect & dry some of them, it appears, without marking them specially in his collection. Had he returned & been able to dispose himself of the herbarium these plants would have been duely labelled.³ I found lately in his collection, out of which I have selected some specimens for your inspection, also Eriocephalus umbellulatus & Othonna membranifolia. The selection should have been made before, but it will come in yet timely for the Compositae & will bring besides supplemental Rubiaceae & Loranthaceae, also other since received from Thozet Dalachy &c. I have lately also described Asperula geminifolia,⁴ though perhaps only a variety of Galium geminifolium or perhaps identical with Asperula divaricata.

Angophora subvelutina I have now also from C[amden],⁵ where Mr Woolls collected it

You will do me a great favor by sending me by next mail a list of the arborescent Eucalypti, i.e., the names of the species you adopted, their vernacular names where such exist & their range over the country. I am sorry to be obliged to trouble you thus, but I am asked as one of the Commissioners for the intercolonial Exhibition to furnish an essay on Australian plants in general & thought on the occasion to embody in the memoir a table of all the species of the trees of Australia. Thus tabulated at a glance it could be seen which trees exist in W.A, S.A, V., N.S.W., T., Q.L.,⁶ N.A.⁷ — of course Q.L. will be the richest in diversity of trees. The main-features in the vegetation of any part of the globe are its trees & to them largely the affinity of floras must be traced; thus N.Z & Austr have but little in common as regards trees, but India & trop Australia much. This leads to some curious speculations The essay must be printed before August, thus I beg of you to send me the memorandum by the mail first leaving England after the receipt of these lines I have to thank you for your goodness in sending me the new part of your & Dr Hookers truely excellent genera plantarum,⁸ a real boon! May two such experienced & illustrious phytographers live to complete the work. The Composit[es] will give you like D.C. great trouble. I believe reduction of genera will be the only means of clearing up the view over that large assemblage of plants. I have with frankness offered some remarks for your & Dr Hookers consideration, thinking that you might be glad to introduce some of them into the supplemental pages of the volume. Notes on the first part were sent before. Should not works in which many species of any genus are well described be quoted? I am looking forward with great interest to the concluding portion of the volume.

You continue to employ the adjective Australiensis, one which is created in your work. To me it appears inadmissable, for the ending ensis was in latin classic usage never employed otherwise than to designate town-adjectives. Linné though so splendid a classic scholar broke with some freedom occasionally through classic rules; hence we find the Braziliensis instead of Brasiliana, Chinensis instead of Chinica. But he never had Germanensis, Britaniensis, Anglicensis, Italiensis, Hiberniensis, Lusitaniensis, Europensis, Asiatensis etc etc. This word of yours & Dr Hookers evidently arose from the french Australienne, but though the Academy may sanction that as a french idiom, we are in my opinion not justified to rule by such idioms the forms of words of languages, which are ancient and as no longer existing but in writing, fixed to permanent rules. Linné employed also occasionally words half composed of greek, half of latin, such as terminologia, ranunculoides; but these were exceptions, and if we just pass & tolerate them, we should not imitate them. Would it not be well to take the opinion of a leading European philologist on the subject? I still adhere to the adjective Australianus as the most euphonious & the most gramatical. I am especially sorry for the employment of the word Australiensis, as it might appear to have had my sanction for the english work.

I regret to hear of Mr Oldfields death.⁹ I never knew that he was married & indeed scarcely anything of his family relations; for altho he lifed fifteen month free of expense in my house & shared my hospitality such as it was, I discussed never anything with him except some points of characters & distribution of plants. But as his eyesight was so impaired he was seldom positive in any information. The bustle in my department indeed left me little time to converse with him & we parted comparatively as strangers. He was originally by a small monetary contribution of mine induced to make his trip to Mount Lapérouse,¹⁰ where Stuart¹¹ had been before.

After staying as a guest under my roof for more than a year, I engaged him as collector for the Department in W. Australia & his collections & travels cost the establishment several hundred pounds, I moreover giving a present in cash of between £20-30 privately. After his return I allowed him to keep a specimen of the W. Austr. plants he collected on an understanding that they should not be distributed. I am now glad, that after his death they have fallen in your hands; they could not be placed anywhere better. His strength was special knowledge of a number of Tasmanian Mosses & Lichenasters. He was a schoolfellow of Professor Halford of our University. Of the circumstance that a dreadful scene had shaken his nerves I never knew a word. He told me, that he had to give up his teachership in Tasmania on account of ill health. A brother of his is still teacher there, but personally not known to me. Oldfields searches for plants in W. Australia were very creditable to him & I think I have done him full justice in my writings. The 2 or 3 plants bearing our joint authority¹² were named by myself. I liked to give him every encouragement in my power & did not spare my private means for the purpose.

Within the last week I have received Drummonds plants from Swan River; the collection is in a very miserable state; still it will complete what I have from W. Australia. His [son] contends, that it contains many plants, which never went to Europe.¹³

I am grateful for you kind intention to secure the Ficus Sycomorus for us.

You overlooked that Sprengel already reduced Calystegia marginata to Convolvulus. Do you wish again seeds of Acaciae &c from this years harvest?

For any additions to my collection of succulents I shall be grateful. They are not read[il]y lost & thankful plants. We are too busy here in a new country to bestow much time on plants of mere ornament. Utility being the order of the day. Tree plantations are thus among my primary objects.

Ever your regardful

Ferd Mueller

I have in course of time to effect some corrections to the issued vol. of the Austr Flora. So specimens of Flindersia Schottiana have been passed as Hartigshea Fraseri¹⁴ & H. rufa in the collection remitted by you. The oil glands in Flindersia are much larger. I have lately looked on Passiflorae & reject now the genus Disemma. I have no other new species than Passifl. brachystephanea¹⁵

I have finished the examination of Austral ferns, which I reduced to 163; and 13 of these may even prove mere varieties. RBr had 94 species in the reduced sense in which I view his species.¹⁶

Acacia

Angophora subvelutina

Asperula divaricata

Asperula geminifolia

Calystegia marginata

Compositae

Convolvulus

Disemma

Eriocephalus umbellulatus

Eucalyptus

Ficus Sycomorus

Flindersia Schottiana

Galium geminifolium

Hartigshea Fraseri

Hartigshea rufa

Leptorrhynchus nitidulus

Loranthaceae

Othonna membranifolia

Passiflora brachystephanea

Rhus tomentosa

Rhus viticifolia

Rubiaceae

Rutidosis leptorrhynchoides