26/6/66
I have enclosed, dear Mr Bentham, in the letter for Dr Hooker1 ripe fruit (berries) of Abrophyllum. The enormous extrawork of the season kept me strictly to the work of my Directorate since some months & so, I regret, I could not redeem my promise to send off the gnaphaloid genera;2 all other Compositae I did send & now by the Dover Castle I send a large lot of additions. I had not the least idea that your progress would be one of such celerity in working on Compositae, since so many genera are to be remodelled; and I can not surpress some regret, that the Compositae did not stand over until all the genera were put into your & Dr Hookers work. I am convinced you would then have seen, that Olearia as a genus is untenable. I have examined a vast number of American Asters & others from Asia & Europe & am perfectly persuaded, did accidentally any Olearia or Eurybia get among them, no botanist would for a moment doubt he had an Aster before him. Pardon me for expressing myself on this question freely, because would it not be a pity, by adopting the genus Olearia, after I reduced it,3 to load the synonymy with half a hundred unnecessary names?
The first seven proof-sheets I received with delight. I have little to alter, after a glance, reserving for moments of future leisure further remarks. The Umbelliferae came back this day & I am glad along with them the long missing Mollugineae.4 You will get by the Dover Castle Drummonds Compositae, part of which were never sent to Europe. Unfortunately they suffered more from the small brown beetle than any other portion of his collection.
I have looked only over part of the Eucalyptus specimens since they came back, being so much pressed with gardenwork[.]5 I am however quite convinced that you confused some specimens of E. rostrata & E. viminalis. The proof of Eucalyptus will be useful for determining timber specimens for the exhibition The identification of the Mahogany as E. marginata is most interesting. Eucalyptus bicolor is I believe nowhere described, but the diagnosis of E. largiflorens6 was published. I do not think the Mount Elliot specimens belong to it, they partain of the section Leiophloeae.7 E. cinerea must be a var of E. pulverulenta
Additional Notes on Loranthaceae
Loranthus sanguineus
Roper's River & near Mount Mueller near Termination Lake
Loranthus dictyophlebus Rockhampton Thozet.
You will have kindly remembered that I gave a list of Loranthaceae in the Burdekin Essay.8
It was very generous of you to spare for the library of this department the many valuable volumes. As some are bearing the signatures of illustrious men their books will be kept with special piety.9
The gnaphaloideae will now be sent off by one of the next Clippers.
your regardful
Ferd. Mueller10
The name Eucalyptus bicolor is ill applicable; moreover no diagnosis is published of the species as such, though a very brief remark occurs in reference to the character of the plant in Mitch. Trop. Austral11
Abrophyllum
Aster
Compositae
Eucalyptus bicolor
Eucalyptus cinerea
Eucalyptus largiflorens
Eucalyptus marginata
Eucalyptus pulverulenta
Eucalyptus rostrata
Eucalyptus viminalis
Eurybia
Leiophloeae.
Loranthaceae
Loranthus dictyophlebus
Loranthus sanguineus
Mollugineae
Olearia
Olearia
Umbelliferae
Please cite as “FVM-66-06-26a,” 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/66-06-26a