20/10/81.
I write a sort of duplicate letter, dear Sir Joseph, concerning poor Dr Cooke.1
As a medical Gentleman you will know, what the end of his sufferings will be, unless he has a long & total change from Museum work to openair-occupation. Sadly do I feel this daily myself, after I had to quit my garden! Unless, as in the instance of Dr Cooke, the recuperative power of the system of a man, already beyond the zenith of his life, is brought into full play, his chances for resumation of long & trying work in the Museum will be very poor. If however you could manage, to send him to Central-America, not to the lowland-jungles, but to the healthy upland-country, he would do wonders for Mycology, and get simultaneously his system thoroughly invigorated. Remember, that this would be the first instance of a special Mycologist working outside of Europe!
Through Berkeley you have probably already the largest collection of fungs at Kew, unless Fries’s collection should be larger; how much would that be increased at Kew, by a few months wanderings of Dr Cooke in the tropics.
In a single Census of Australian genera, now under print,2 I have placed Antennaria nubigena under Leontopodium. You seem to have seen only its one state; it is dimorphic, & thus bridges over the chasm between Antennaria & Leontopodium, especially as DC's Antennaria leontopodina, gathered by Royle, yourself & Turczaninow, is only a form of Leontopodium alpinum. I am just looking over the New Zealand Raoulias to see, whether any can be transferred like wise to Leontopodium or (if you prefer) Antennaria.3 I wrote on this subject to Prof. Asa Gray some years ago.4
I am trying to get an other stem of Macrozamia Moorei to Kew, to ensure the growth there of this superb plant.
Regardfully your
Ferd. von Mueller.
How glad I am, that the sad tidings concerning Bentham from Planchon and Caruell are not confirmed.5
I am reminded how the elder Agassiz's life was prolonged by his voyages up the Amazon River. He wrote to me himself then;6 he had many fishes from me.
We have here now a branch of the British Medical Association, and this I have joined.
Kindly help me by giving me a clue of any recent writings on Polynesian plants.7
Antennaria leontopodina
Antennaria nubigena
Leontopodium alpinum
Macrozamia Moorei
Raoulia
Please cite as “FVM-81-10-20,” 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 3 May 2024, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/vonmueller/letters/81-10-20