From George Bentham   24 December 1869

25. WILTON PLACE. S.W.

London

Decr 24 /69

My dear Sir

I am happy to say I have been able again to set steadily to work and although the short days and dark fogs interfere a good deal with the minute examination of small flowers I have got through Nyctagineae Phytolaccaceae Chenopodiaceae and Amarantaceae and a box containing those Orders as well as Labiatae and Plantagineae is packed and will be despatched in a few days — all but the Gomphrena parcel which I have not quite finished and keep it for the next box — There may possibly be one or two Trichinium names to change for I am still uncertain about some of Lindley's but I shall have his own specimens up from Cambridge shortly and if there is any change to make I will let you know. He has certainly confounded two under the name of Alopecuroides — the yellow one of Mitchells last and probably of the former Expedition¹ with the red one figured in the Register² — and amongst the large flowered ones the yellow or straw coloured ones T. nobile, T. macrocephalum Br. (T. pachocephalum Moq.) T. alopecuroides etc differ from the red ones T. exaltatum (T. alopecuroides Bot. Reg) T. semilanatum, T. Manglesii etc. in the insertion of the internal wool

The generic characters in Amarantaceae are very puzzling — one is obliged to hold on trifles — the presence or absence of teeth of the staminal tube between the filaments upon which Moquin relies so much quite breaks down. They are very prominent in three Trichinia T. Drummondii T. calostachyum and T. Fraseri and I find no trace of them in any others, not even in one externally exactly like the large flowered specimens of T. Drummondii — Upon the whole I have thought it better to keep Trichinium and Ptilotus distinct the former with 45 the latter with 10 species. Of Amarantus I have 9 species although I consider Brown's four species as all one — Moquin has made a sad mess of Amarantaceae in the Prodromus³ — a great deal for want of examinable as much as of authentic specimens — and much also from taking for granted that characters observed in one species are the same in apparently similar ones.⁴

You sent by last mail a specimen of Ipomoea sinuata sent to you by M. Thozet from Peak Downs — It is certainly that plant but surely introduced only in Queensland

I had great pleasure in being introduced the other day to M. Thozet though it was but a ten minutes conversation that I could have with him. He seems exceedingly zealous and when he returns home will I trust continue to do much to make the vegetable treasures of Australia more appreciated

In another month I hope to be at Proteaceae which I purpose to return to you as I get through the larger genera — and I still hope if I get no return of my complaint⁵ to begin printing in February

I am my dear Sir

Yours sincerely

George Bentham

Dr F. Mueller.

Amarantaceae

Amarantus

Ipomoea sinuata

Proteaceae

Ptilotus

Trichinium alopecuroides

Trichinium calostachyum

Trichinium Drummondii

Trichinium exaltatum

Trichinium Fraseri

Trichinium macrocephalum

Trichinium Manglesii

Trichinium nobile

Trichinium pachocephalum

Trichinium semilanatum