Museum, Auckland, N.Z,
August 2d 1881
My Dear Baron Mueller,
I trust you will excuse me for asking your assistance in the following matter. In vol 5 of the "Flora Australiensis" a species of Scleranthus is described under the name of S. mniaroides1 which seems to differ chiefly from S. biflorus in the flowers being solitary, and in the smaller size of all its parts. Now I have gathered in the mountains of the South Island a Scleranthus which I have often thought might be this species; and which certainly looks very different to any of the ordinary states of S. biflorus. I have ventured to send you a specimen, and should feel extremely obliged if you would compare it with the Australian plant and let me know the result. I also enclose a specimen of a lax-growing form of S. biflorus which is not uncommon in the South Island.
You will remember my sending you specimens of Poranthera microphylla from the Nelson district.2 Last summer I gathered a second species at an altitude of 5000 ft on Mt Arthur, in the N. W. of Nelson. It was evidently quite distinct from any of the Australian species, and I have consequently described it under the name of P. alpina. It is interesting to find another of the purely Australian genera to be represented in New Zealand. Sir W. J. Hooker, to whom I forwarded specimens, agrees with me in thinking the species to be perfectly distinct.3
Yours very truly
T. F. Cheeseman
Baron F von Mueller, FRS.
&c &c &c
Poranthera alpina
Poranthera microphylla
Scleranthus biflorus
Scleranthus mniaroides
Please cite as “FVM-81-08-02,” 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