S. Brisbane
Oct 3. 1872
Dear Sir
Your list of Lindsaeas1 does not include L. media RBr. not rare in the north of the Colony, & it has no synonyms; do you refer it to L. tenera?
I enclose herewith fragments of two Lindseas; one is [that] which Mr Baker I suppose, regards as the Australian equivalent of L. cultrata,2 & which must be common [back] in northern Queensland; the other is represented by a single frond in the national herbarium in the British Museum, and is there named L. linearis Sw. & RBr. which it cannot be, though the specific name is very applicable to it; I have another Lindsaea here, which I will enclose if I can find an example agreeing much better with linearis, & is so named by Mr Baker, but differing in the tufted, not creeping rhizome, (though it really has no rhizome) the uniformly green or strawcoloured stipites, thinner texture, and heterogenous fronds.
I have been carefully over Mr Browns Australian herbarium, & neither fern is to be found in it; what surprised me most however was with reference to our two Common Niphoboli, rupestris & confluens; the smaller delicate species, almost always found on shaded tree-trunks, with the most delicate filiform rachis, & which I had with others always supposed to be L. confluens3 & which is not in Mr J. Smiths4 collection is there labelled Niph. rupestris, & I altered the name I had given my plant, with Mr Brown's label & specimens before me; the coarser & larger Niphobolus as often found on rocks & boulders as upon trees, is there named N. confluens, though the same plant in Mr J. Smiths collection is named N. rupestris. I have not seen N. adhascens near Brisbane. I shall be very glad of your Fragments,5 which I would order if I could.
We are of course not strong in Algae here, the coral reefs offering too insecure a nidus; the commoner Sp. are Cystophyllum muricatum, Sargassum vulgare (?) Caulerpa sedoides Plocamium or the allied genus Hymenocladia, Catenella & some Ulva & Porphyra, food for the Dugong. I formerly paid a good deal of attention to European algae, & had much correspondence with the late Prof. Harvey.
Lindsaea lanuginosa, is a fine species & limited I presume to the north, as it is a New Guinea fern. L. microphylla is common about Brisbane, & L. Fraseri plentiful in one spot only. L. pentaphylla or Ensifolia on Moreton island, small & stunted, a form intermediate between L. L. ensifolia & pentaphylla.
I trust your official? troubles are smoother: perhaps it would be better to consider a little the taste of the profanum vulgus,6 omnipotent as they are in all our colonies.
Yours very truly
Chas. Prentice.
Baron V. Mueller &c &c
Catenella
Caulerpa sedoides
Cystophyllum muricatum
Hymenocladia
Lindsaea confluens
Lindsaea cultrata
Lindsaea ensifolia
Lindsaea Fraseri
Lindsaea lanuginosa
Lindsaea linearis
Lindsaea media
Lindsaea microphylla
Lindsaea pentaphylla
Lindsaea tenera
Niphobolus adhescens
Niphobolus confluens
Niphobolus rupestris
Plocamium
Porphyra
Sargassum vulgare
Ulva
List not found.
Hooker & Baker (1865-8), pp.103, 104, completed by John Gilbert Baker after W. J. Hooker died when only 48 pages had been printed.
Lindsaea confluens? Name not found (APNI, IPNI, accessed 25 June 2023).
John Smith (1798-1888), whose herbarium of ferns was purchased by the British Museum in 1866 (ODNB).
i.e. M's Fragmenta phytographiae australiae.
common masses.
MS found with a specimen of Lindsaea linearis (MEL 2150214).
Please cite as “FVM-72-10-03,” 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