Melb bot Garden
24/1/69
Dear Dr Hector
In the fourth volume of the flora of Australia Mr Bentham has reunited my Solanum vescum with S. aviculare.1 It differs in decurrent leaves, length of filaments, spherical green berries and other characters. I have some notion, that the plant exists in New Zealand, where it may have been considered a variety of S. aviculare. The latter is poisonous whereas the former is innocuous & much eaten by the natives when the fruits are fully ripe. We had here a poison case lately under the care of Dr Spearman, in which such a dilation of the pupils took place as to leave only the margin of the iris visible As Cooks sailors eat the S. aviculare I cannot but think that there must be two species under that name in N.Z.2
In Gipps land I found both growing, each well retaining its characters. I should be glad for a few good specimens of these Solana from your islands to clear up once more the confusion Has your S. aviculare always orange colored egg shaped berries?
I am also very anxious to get ripe fruits of Donatia Novae Zeelandiae. I found the plant on a new locality lately when dashing into some new alpine country of Tasmania, new at least to phytography. I found my Caltha introloba there also again. Is it really distinct from D. Novae Zeelandiae in white not yellow flowers? Pray send any friend of yours, who may come to Melbourne in April or May to me to take charge of such living plants and seeds as you may wish me to send
your regardful
Ferd. von Mueller
Caltha introloba
Donatia Novae Zeelandiae
Solanum aviculare
Solanum vescum
Please cite as “FVM-69-01-24,” 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/69-01-24