Town Hall, Melbourne,
3rd January 1871
My dear Dr von Mueller,
The Right Worshipful the Mayor has received from a gentleman in Halifax Nova Scotia the enclosed packet of seeds of a plant called "Indian Cup" which is indigenous there and is exciting some talk in the Medical world as a cure for Small Pox.1 It flourishes in swampy places in black mud and requires abundance of water.
The directions for planting are "Grow in the open air — soil, decayed vegetable matter, black mud. Keep the soil always saturated with water. Moss if it can be had conveniently is a good surface to sow upon."2
Will you kindly try to grow this plant and be so good as to inform me of the result so that I may communicate it to the donor of the seed.3
yours very faithfully
E. G. FitzGibbon
Town Clerk
Sarracenia purpurea; see, for example, Miles (1862).
On 29 September 1870, D. Blackwood, Halifax, Nova Scotia, wrote to the Mayor of Melbourne: 'Years ago I sat under the shade of the trees in the public garden on the banks of the Yarra Yarra. Permit me to hand you for the use of that garden some seed of the Indian Cup a plant which is indigenous to this province and which is exciting some talk in the medical world as a cure for Small Pox It flourishes in swampy places in black mud, it requires water in abundance. Will you do me the favour to hand this parcel of seed to the proper quarter with a request that an attempt may be made to add its culture to that of the other rare and curious plants grown in the garden. Here it is a common plant on every bog but from home it may be more highly esteemed. Directions Grow in the open air — soil — decayed vegetable matter — black mud — keep the soil always saturated with water — moss if it can be had conveniently is a good surface to sow upon.' (No. 1941, unit 734, VPRS 3181, Public Record Office, Victoria).
M to E. FitzGibbon, 4 January 1871, acknowledges receipt of the seeds.
Please cite as “FVM-71-01-03a,” 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