Richmond1
July 4/79
My dear Baron
I have forwarded the Book to Mr. Alkin,2 & also your kind letter for his perusal.3 Dr. Ward lately sent me a flower of an Orchid which he says came from Thursday Island.4 I thought at first, it was Dendrobium Sumneri, because the colour appeared to be pink, but I believe it is D. bigibbum. He says the colour is variable. Can you recognise it?
I will procure & send you some of the Kino from E. siderophloia as soon as I have an opportunity. Cunningham’s E. microphylla is very like E. stricta, but distinct from it in bark & th veining of the leaves. I have only leaves & seed vessels.
Yours very sincerely
W. Woolls
Is the labellum that of D. bigibbum?
Dendrobium bigibbum
Dendrobium Sumneri
Eucalyptus microphylla
Eucalyptus siderophloia
Eucalyptus stricta
NSW.
It is not known what book was forwarded to Alkin. If, as seems likely, it was one of M's publications, his most recent book was B79.06.04, The native plants of Victoria... However, it could have been the earlier Introduction to botanic teachings… (B77.08.01), which was cited in Alkin's Floral chart (Alkin (1886)) where he recommended it as an aid to pupils. The Chart was reported as having been 'warmly commended by such an excellent authority as Baron von Mueller, the Government botanist of Victoria' (Gympie times and Mary River mining gazette, 11 May 1889, p. 3).
Letter not found.
Torres Strait, Qld.
MS found with a specimen of Dendrobium bigibbum (MEL 624065).
Please cite as “FVM-79-07-04,” 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