Ferndale
nr Double Bay1
My dear Baron Müeller
I send you specimens of a Dampera2 but I do not know if it is the one you want. It seems in growth exactly like the one I drew (& which Dr Woolls called a var. of Stricta) & yet the flowers are different — The specimen I first got had only one flower that was open on it. The others were all withered & dead, & this one flower I drew from was a particularly fine one of a very deep blue & with the upper petal all in one. I was so very much struck with the graceful little plant that I drew this living flower in several positions putting them on places in the plant where there were dead ones — If these specimens I now send are the same as that I drew then the flower must have been a malformation as these I see have the upper petal cut in two. The buds too, & there were lots, were very pretty & all tipped with deep blue —
These plants I have sent you by the same post were all got at Double Bay, growing in deep Shade under Banksia & other trees, & all in the small Ferns and old dry grass — Some of the plants you will see are of great length but I could not find a single seed vessel —
The flowers enclosed were broken off the plants I send you —
Tell me if I am to get you any more, & if it is the one you want as then I will send you per post flowers in alcohol. I know where to find more —
You sent Baron Maclay3 & my sister4 your photograph with all your honours on, won't you give me one.
I am writing to catch todays post.
Very sincerely yours
Harriet Scott
Damperi Stricta
Sydney.
i.e. Dampiera.
Nikolai Miklouho-Maclay.
Helena Forde, née Scott. M had sent two copies of his photograph, one intended for Scott, with M to H. Forde, 26 May 1881 (in this edition as 81-05-26a). Perhaps Forde had not yet had an opportunity to pass on Scott's copy? Or perhaps she had found it necessary to give the one intended for Scott to Miklouho-Maclay instead?
Letter dated on basis of its evident relationship to H. Scott to M, 15 August 1881 (in this edition as 81-08-15b). It was certainly written prior to Scott’s marriage to C. W. Morgan in 1882.
Please cite as “FVM-81-08-00a,” 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