To Edward Ramsay   4 April 1878

Thursday [4 April 1878]1

 

I write this from Gippsland, dear Mr Ramsay, and will return to you the NZ Cyperaceae & Restiaceae so soon as I return.2 It is not in my recollection that your letter asked for the return of the specimens, and as they were unnumbered, I thought dublicates were kept. To me they are of no value, as I have a full & large NZ Herbarium.

It is delightful to be able to look forward to N.G. plants through your circumspectness and generosity. I like so much to issue a second volume on Papuan plants,3 and Dr Beccari has promised me all his Rubiaceae, Leguminosae & Myrtaceae.

With regardful remembrance

Ferd. von Mueller

 

Did you see ever any Bamboos in the N, not merely the common Reed, and if so, did you notice it in flower, and where?

I have never yet heard of any Goodenia proving poisonous, and have classed their bitter principle as allied to that of the Gentianeae, to which order the Goodeniaceae are closely allied. If really poisonous principles exist in the goodeniaceous plants, then it should be carefully investigated by chemical analysis & toxicologic experiments It is however far more likely that some Lobelias or perhaps Solanum nigrum or some other well recognized poison-plant killed the cattle of Liverpool plains.

Do you think some subscribers among medical & pharmaceutical Gentlemen could be secured in N.S.W. for the work mentioned in the bye-following prospectus. It will be fully printed in a few month, most of it being in type. It will cost me about £300 (i.e. the savings of several years!) and as yet only about £40 are covered by subscription.4

 
 

Cyperaceae

Gentianeae

Goodenia

Goodeniaceae

Leguminosae

Lobelia

Myrtaceae

Restiaceae

Rubiaceae

Solanum nigrum

1
Editorial addition. M left with the Wattle Bark Commissioners for Gippsland on Saturday 30 March (Argus, 30 March 1878, p. 7, col. b), returning to Melbourne on Friday 12 April (Argus, 13 April 1878, p. 7, col. f). It is unlikely that on the day before he reached Melbourne he would have written ‘as soon as I return’. See also notes below.
2
See M to E. Ramsay, 14 April and 21 April 1878.
3
The last part of volume 1 was B77.13.02; the first part of volume 2 was B85.06.03.
4
Prospectus not found. The work referred to Wittstein (1878).

Please cite as “FVM-78-04-04,” 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 27 April 2024, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/vonmueller/letters/78-04-04