14/10/78
It is very kind of you, dear Sir Joseph, to offer me a set of the spare plants from Indian collections, now under the process of distribution at Kew2 I need not tell you, that from any part of South Asia nothing can come amiss for aiding my studies of the plants of tropical Australia, which I trust to resume with renewed vigour after this protracted illness, from which I am now slowly recovering and mainly aris[ei]ng from the grief of the last few years.
I shall rent a larger House, so that I can store any Herbarium specimens you may send me; to my only room for Museum plants nothing is added since 1858! when Sir Henry Barkly got it for me.
In return I shall be able to offer you many rare plants, described since the flora Austral appeared, over 600 species, as I gradually put in order the material for the first supplemental volume.
Excuse kindly brevity as I am still very weak
Regardfully
Ferd. von Mueller
Please cite as “FVM-78-10-14,” 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 28 April 2024, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/vonmueller/letters/78-10-14