To George Bentham   19 May 1872

Melbourne

bot Garden

19/[5]/7[2]1

 

I am always delighted, dear Mr Bentham, to see your handwriting and to read your kind and instructive letters. Let me thank you for all your sympathy.There is a reaction in my favor, and I have a fair prospect of surmounting all my difficulties. It is through an individual, and a very low one too, in the employ now of the Argus (Mr Edw Wilson's and Mr M'Kinnon's paper) that my miseries and the desorganisation of my Department have been mainly brought about. The necessity of defending my Directorship has thrown almost all scientific work of mine during the last 18 month in the background.

A lot of Supplemental Euphorbiaceae ought to go to you within the next few months, so also other supplemental Monochlamydeae. I must then be guided by your wishes in further sendings, but expect that you need Orchideae first after that, unless - to keep Dicotyledoneae together - you prefer to supplement Thalamiflorae &c in the volume, at least as far as new species are concerned.

It is perfectly edifying to hear you speak of finishing the Compositae for the genera.2 What a treasure of information for all time that will be! The genera are far more important then the Austr. flora. Your new arrangement seems to simplify the distribution of Compositae in tribes & subtribes much.

Always yours

with deep reverence

Ferd. von Mueller

 

Compositae

Euphorbiaceae

Monochlamydeae

Orchideae

Thalamiflorae

 
1
The year appears to be '73', but this is inconsistent with the comments about the groups of plants that M anticipates that Bentham will next need. He sent the last of his supplemental Euphorbiaceae on 30 January 1973, and the main collection of Orchids on 23 August 1872 (Notebook recording despatch of plants for Flora Australiensis, RB, MSS M44, Library, Royal Botanic Gardens Melbourne) . Bentham described his progress on Compositeae in G. Bentham to M, 25 January 1872 (in this edition as 72-01-25a).
2
Bentham & Hooker (1862-83).

Please cite as “FVM-72-05-19,” 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 27 April 2024, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/vonmueller/letters/72-05-19