From Ferdinand von Mueller to John Buchanan   7 Nov 1873

Melbourne,

7/11/73

Let me acknowledge, dear Mr Buchanan¹ your kindness of sending me the Glumaceae &c on behalf of Dr Hector, to whom I beg to express my best thanks. I will look over them within the next days and give you some notes on them. No doubt Mr Travers has considered me sadly remiss in not doing more to his last Chatham-Islands plants.² But since the last two years I have been in a constant turmoil of anxieties, so much so that for fully 12 months during that period even my Fragmenta came to an absolute stand still. I wrote however to Mr Travers, that I did not wish to retard the elucidation of his last collections, if any one else liked to work on them. I shall however within the next 6 months work on the grasses, Cyperaceae Restiaceae &c for the Flora of Australia,³ and that will give me a good opportunity of looking carefully over that portion of the N.Z. & Chatham Isl. plants also.

Would it not be possible to induce some settler in the Chatham Islands to send a good lot of fruit specimens of the supposed Lepyrodia? By sending to any intelligent person there a few fragments of the plant, he would recognize it, as it is stately and probably common.

The 3 plants, to which you specifically refer, I will gladly examine, and let you know the result⁴

I fancy that some more Restiaceae might be discovered in your island.

With best wishes

your

Ferd. von Mueller.

Cyperaceae

Glumaceae

Lepyrodia

Restiaceae