Richmond N.S.W
Oct 8/81
My dear Baron,
I send you from this day's Herald, a letter of the late Mr Bentham's,1 which I was anxious to get printed, as it shows how much he felt indebted to you in regard to the Flora Australiensis. I hope the publication of the letter may do you service.
Mr Richards has promised for you more copies of my Census!2 If he does not forward them, I will ask for them when I go to Sydney. I have promised to write for him a popular article on Australian Plants but, having a great deal of parochial work, I am afraid I shall not have much time
When are we to have a report of the woods of Eucalypts which I sent you last year? I am getting a few more.
An intelligent friend of mine who has devoted some time to examining the cellular tissue of plants, says, that in the petals,3 the form of the cells differs more in introduced than in indigenous plants, & that especially Dampiera Brownii, in all its forms, has different cells from most of D. stricta. He thinks that these differences may sometimes be useful in distinguishing species. I see Prof. Balfour says the form of the cells often differs in the same plant,4 but nevertheless my friends ideas may have some foundation.
I think that the pink or red & dark brownish purple forms of Swainsona which Mr B. unites in S. galegifolia are distinct. The flowers of the dark one are smaller & the wings are invariably ciliated. Perhaps the latter may be his S. brachyptera. Acacia elongata has not yet formed pods fully
Yours very sincerely
W. Woolls
Acacia elongata
Dampiera Brownii
Dampiera stricta
Eucalyptus
Swainsona brachyptera
Swainsona galegifolia
See Sydney morning herald, 8 October 1881, p. 9. The article presents the text of a letter from Bentham to Woolls dated 17 October 1865 that Woolls, prompted by news of Bentham's death, had sent to the paper along with a covering letter of his own. Bentham, however, was not dead. Regarding the false report that he had died, see M to J. Hooker, 8 October 1881. In his letter to Woolls, Bentham records his indebtedness to M for his help with the Flora australiensis, and then goes on to write as follows:
Having finished the other Myrtaceae, I am now at Eucalyptus, the most dreadful of all genera for the monograph, but I had at the outset begged Dr. Mueller to do it entirely himself, but he had not time, so that all I can now do is to verify the old species, which will be all named in his herbarium, and to give in my "Flora" such a rough account of the genus as is within my power, trusting that he will then give us an elaborate monograph with plates, which from him would be most valuable.
Woolls (1880). Richards, as Government Printer of NSW, was the publisher of Woolls's book.
About ten words following crossed out.
Reference not identified.
MS found with an undetermined specimen of Swainsona (MEL 2063064).
Please cite as “FVM-81-10-08b,” 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