To Joseph Hooker1    15 May 1876

15/5/76.

 

I thank you, dear Dr Hooker, for the support you have given me, by causing the despatches, concerning the new remedy against the Pemphigus or Phylloxera to be referred to me officially.2 This aid came opportune, as the estimates of the new financial year (commencing 1 July) are under consideration now; and if my position is not improved thereby, then the temporary ruin of my Department will become a permanent one!

This restoration of my position in a "becoming" manner, to use Asa Gray's expression — is becoming all the more difficult, as the very Ministry, which broke up and almost annihilated my Department, has thrown the colony into such enormous debt.

Will you kindly look on the enclosed Scirpodendron. Of this genus of Kurz I have not the full literature, and if it really belongs to Cyperaceae, then Boeckeler has missed it, altho’ surely specimens occur in the Berlin Collections.3 I never saw flowers nor perfect leaves. At first sight the plant reminds of Pandaneae.4 The species is known to me not only from the Sunda Islands and Samoa, but also from North Queensland. The embryo is rather that of Junceae than Cyperaceae and the whole plant looks somewhat Palmlike. Kurz refers it to Hypolythreae. Was it really not described by any former authors as the plant is so widely diffused —5

Gratefully your

Ferd von Mueller

 

Cyperaceae

Hypolythreae.

Junceae

Pandaneae

Scirpodendron

1
MS black edged. M's brother-in-law, Eduard Wehl, had died on 11 February 1876. MS annotation: 'And Jy 24'. Letter not found.
2
In his letter to the Foreign Office of 9 February 1876, Hooker wrote 'I would suggest that … a copy [of this report] should be sent to the Colonial Office, for transmission to Baron von Mueller, the Government Botanist at Melbourne'. A copy of Hooker's letter and a translation of the salient points of the report (Académie des sciences. Commission du Phylloxera [1876]), was published by the Argus, 8 May 1876, p. 6.
3
Böckeler (1868-77). M commented upon Böckeler's treatment, including new synonyms, in B75.05.05, pp. 52-8.
4
See B77.02.03, p. 104.
5
MS annotation: 'Scirpodendron, Zippelius = Pandanophyllum costatum, Thwaites.'

Please cite as “FVM-76-05-15,” 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 25 April 2024, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/vonmueller/letters/76-05-15