Thursday1
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
M left with the Wattle Bark Commissioners for Gippsland on Saturday 30 March (Argus, 8 April, p. 6, and 30 March 1878, p. 7), returning to Melbourne on Friday 12 April (Argus, 13 April 1878, p. 7). The letter is dated to 4 April because it is unlikely that on the day before M reached Melbourne, he would have written ‘as soon as I return’. On Thursday 4 April the Commissioners went by boat from Lakes Entrance to the Tambo River, where they slept overnight on board before holding a hearing in Bairnsdale the following day (Argus, 8 April 1878, p. 6).
M to E. Ramsay, 14 April 1878 (in this edition as 78-04-14c), announced that he would now be able to return the NZ plants, but in M to E. Ramsay, 21 April 1878, reported that they could not be found.
The last part of vol. 1 was B77.13.02; the first part of vol. 2 was B85.06.03.
Prospectus not found. The work referred to is Wittstein (1878), i.e. B78.06.09.
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