Melbourne bot. Garden,
22/2/66
My dear Professor.
The restoration of peace in your magnificent country1 encourages again to resume direct relations to men of science, relations which during the turmoils of war could not be continued without fear of intrusiveness. I sent you some little consignment some time ago2 to get out of my debt to some extent, and I trust that the collections of the department will have so far been put into order, that I shall be able to offer a good set of plants this winter for your museum.
I have of late secured Drummonds original collection from his son, the collection he kept for private use & thus I have now by far the most complete collection of Australian plants! Since the issue of my last report3 (of which I trust the transmitted copy arrived) I have described several new genera & proved Connarus, Strongylodon, Cakile, Casearia, Antirrhoea, Lasianthus, Ophiorrhiza, Marattia, Angiopteris, Deparia to belong to the Austr. Flora. Among the new genera Archidendron near Affonsea with 5-15! carpels is perhaps the most interesting. It has doubly pinnate leaves.
I cannot express to you how eager I am, my dear Professor, to transfer some more of your noble Oaks & pines to this country. In my Quercetum the Oaks raised from the acorns kindly sent by you are the predominant feature, still how few are it, if compared with A. De Candolles list!4 Of Pines I possess scarcely any but some of the Californian species & yet nothing could be of greater value among the trees to be imported in this country. Should you have favorable facilities to spend £10 or £20.- in getting acorns & pine seeds fresh collected & prepared for an early shipment, I should feel very much indebted for your obliging generosity in giving an order for the seed & the fund shall at once be transmitted. My great aim is to bring the most useful trees from all parts of the globe together into my parks for affording future means to select from them for forest culture independently. I have many pines from the Himalaian mountains, but few Oaks of Asia. Still North America must be the main source to enrich my collection from. What are the principle avenue trees of the State for lining streets roads or walks?
Pray let me know, what I can send you. Unhesitatingly can you command any thing within my reach. The establishment here is so young & to raise it involves incessant work. But as everything becomes established permanently more leisure will be left to carry devotion towards friends to practical issues. The 5th vol. of my Fragmenta5 will ere long be sent to you. Will collections of seeds for distribution in the southern states be of utility to you?
Ever your grateful
& regardful
Ferd. Mueller.
How I would wish to add your picture to the collection of portraits I have from the hands of celebrated friends.6
Affonsea
Angiopteris
Antirrhoea
Archidendron
Cakile
Casearia
Connarus
Deparia
Lasianthus
Marattia
Ophiorrhiza
Strongylodon
US Civil War, 1861-5.
See M to A. Gray, 24 January 1866.
B65.10.01.
A. de Candolle (1864) or, less likely, A. de Candolle (1862).
Over half of vol. 5 had been published in February (B66.02.01, B66.02.02), but the final fascicles to complete the volume were not issued until December 1866.
A similar request was made in M to A. Gray, 24 January 1866. M thanked Gray for 'your noble likenesses' in M to A. Gray, 10 January 1867. No image of Gray has been identified at MEL, but see M to J. Haast, 29 July 1862 (in this edition as 62-07-29b) and notes thereto.
Please cite as “FVM-66-02-22,” 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