Melbourne, 10/10/78
Dear Mr. Ramsay
This letter reaches you from my sick bed, my assistant kindly writing it at my dictation. The Diatomaceae which you so kindly procured arrived safely during my absence. The bush sent by your brother from Cooper's Creek, so much liked by sheep, is Eremophila longifolia. It has a very wide range over the inland regions of Australia reaching from Spencers Gulf to Shark Bay, also approaching the coast. Would it be troubling you too much kindly to tell me at what date the mission barque will leave Sydney. Pray present my salutation in return to Baron Miklucho Maclay2
With kind regards
Yours
Ferd. von Mueller.
Diatomaceae
Eremophila longifolia
MS written by Georg Luehmann and edited and signed by M.
MS annotation: 'The plant was sent by Mr James Ramsay from "Tindarie" near Bourke, to his brother EPR — it will doubtless prove a very valuable plant as the sheep thrive on it — and it grows on all the dry land in the interior'. See also ‘A new pasture shrub’, Riverine herald (Echuca, Vic), 2 November 1878, p. 2, for more details of James Ramsay’s account of the plant sent to his brother.
Nikolai Miklouho-Maclay?
Please cite as “FVM-78-10-10,” 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