Melbourne
26/1/75
Allow me, dear Prof. DeCaisne, to send you a few seeds of Casuarina DeCaisneana1 gathered by M. Giles in his last Expedition.2 Insects have partly destroyed these seeds, but some have yet the embryo uninjured. We now know this grand Casuarina as existing very widely in Central Australia, where it is one of the very few trees affording shade. This species would prove a very valuable acquisition for the Sahara.
Very regardfully yrs
Ferd. von Mueller
Casuarina DeCaisneana
C. decaisneana?
Ernest Giles; he returned to Adelaide in July 1874 from the expedition on which Alfred Gibson was lost and was then engaged in survey work near Fowler's Bay (SA) at the request of Sir Thomas Elder before commencing a journey north from Fowler's Bay to Beltana (SA) on 13 March 1875 (E. Giles (1889), vol. 2, passim).
Please cite as “FVM-75-01-26b,” 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