30/10/79.
Allow me to remark, dear Sir Joseph, that I have compared 6445 of the bot. Mag.1 with the true Lasiopetalum Baueri, and am convinced that it is a small state of Guichenotia ledifolia,2 of which I gathered seeds at the end of 1867 when in West Australia, where L. Baueri not occurs, altho’ I have many years ago and repeatedly also sent from my Gardenplants the seeds of that Lasiopetalum to Europe.
The plate 6445 shows the peculiar anthers of G. ledifolia, attenuated at the summit & opening with short slits, not almost truncated & opening with pores at the top only; the ovary is 5 celled as in Guichenotia, not 3 celled as usually in Lasiopetalum, and the foliage is also that of G. ledifolia, not of L. Baueri; the nervature of the calyx is in young flowers and in the small varieties of Guich. ledifolia not very visible; hence the very pardonable mistake of confusing the two, such as I might also easily have fallen into had I not moved for so many years among Australian plants.
Regardfully your
Ferd von Mueller
Guichenotia ledifolia
Lasiopetalum Baueri
Please cite as “FVM-79-10-30,” 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 26 April 2024, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/vonmueller/letters/79-10-30