Melbourne im bot. Garten,
22/5/72.
Mit letzter Monatspost sandte ich Ihnen, sehr verehrter Herr, eine Reihe Exemplare von Scleranthus Arten, und nun erlaube ich mir noch nachträglich den Scleranthus biflorus auch von Neu Seeland an zubieten. Wie ich vor fast 20 Jahren das genus Mniarum einzog und die typische species Scleranthus mniarum nannte, hatte ich noch nicht die Flora Novo-Zelandica des jüngern Hooker erhalten.
Sollten sich noch andere Arten hiernach finden, u solche in meinen Besitz kommen, so werde ich nicht verfehlen Ihnen solche vorzulegen.
Mit besonderer Verehrung
Ferd. von Mueller
Melbourne Botanic Garden,
22 May 1872.
With last month's mail, esteemed Sir, I sent you a series of specimens of Scleranthus species, and now I take the liberty of additionally offering also Scleranthus biflorus from New Zealand. When, nearly 20 years ago, I suppressed the genus Mniarum and called the typical species Scleranthus mniarum,1 I had not yet received the Flora Novo-Zelandica2 of the younger Hooker.
Should still other species be found later on and come into my possession, I shall not fail to place them before you.
With particular veneration
Ferd. von Mueller.
Mniarum
Scleranthus biflorus
Scleranthus mniarum
mniaroides? M suppressed Mniarum in his treatment of Scleranthus mniaroides in B62.03.03, p. 215, but had given the name 'Scleranthus mniaroides Ferd Mueller collect.' for what he described as Mniarum singuliflorum in B54.13.06, pp. 13-14, stating 'by the constantly 5-cleft calyx of this kind Mniarum becomes so closely allied to Scleranthus, that hardly any objection can be raised against the conjunction of the two genera'.
J. Hooker (1853-5), vol. 1, p. 74, suppressed Mniarum in the treatment of Scleranthus biflorus, stating 'I see no ground upon which to separate [Mniarum] from Scleranthus'.
MS annotation: '23 Apr. 73', presumably the date of reply (letter not found). A comparison of the handwriting of Ludwig Reichenbach (1793-1879) and that of his son, Heinrich Gottlieb Reichenbach (1824-89), shows that this annotation was written by the father.
Please cite as “FVM-72-05-22a,” 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