Education Office
Dunedin Jany 16th 18771
My Dear Baron,
I have borne your request in mind, and now send you a lot of the flowers of S. grammena2 from Bluff & Invercargill.3 It grows a few feet above sea level to 800 or so on Bluff Hill. I have found it lately near Dunedin altitude 2000 feet. I have been unable to detect any irritability though I have tested the point repeatedly. I hope the specimens will answer your purpose. As mail is closing I cannot say more just now.
Yours sincerely
D. Petrie.
Stylidium subulatum
The date given by M in his annotation suggests that Petrie has written the wrong year number, and the letter is therefore dated to 1878.
grammena crossed out and subulatum written above in M's hand.
Both on the south coast of the South Island of New Zealand. No letter from M to Petrie requesting such flowers has been found, but see M to F. Hutton, 13 May 1877, where he requests them. In 'Observations on the genus Phyllachne', Journal of botany, British and foreign, vol. 16 (1878), pp. 173-4 (B78.06.01), M reported that Petrie's specimens had verified his long-held belief 'that this rare and remarkable plant would be found referable to Forstera (i.e., Phyllachne)'.
MS found with a specimen of Stylidium subulatum (MEL 2469192). MS annotated by M: 'Answ 22/1/78'. Letter not found.
Please cite as “FVM-78-01-16,” 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