29/11/81.
I have examined your Hybanthus,1 dear Profrofessor,2 and after careful dissection have come to the conclusion, that it will be best to adhere to your original view and regard this plant of yours as H. filiformis;3 but as it is not the ordinary state of that species, I would advise to enter it into your list as H. filiformis var. Tatei, until ripe fruits are obtainable. In 1860 I pointed out already, that the form of the embryo affords additional excellent characteristics for distinguishing various species of Hybanthus.
So far as your specimens go, the (South Australian) Wilpene-plant4 is annual, but it may be only a seedling, flowering in the first year. The dwarfness of the plant and the smallness of its leaves & flowers may have its explanation in climatic circumstances. Herewith I forward you specimens of the typical H. filiformis, from which you will see, that its sepals are more pointed than in your,5 the peduncles longer, flowers larger, The very minute double tooth on the apex of the anthers inside the connective-membrane occurs also in the Wilpena-plant.
Herewith I forward you also a specimen of H. debilissimus, with which your plant agrees in habit, but in the former the stipules are mostly obliterated, none of the leaves are opposite, and broader the peduncles more axillary, the sepals are acuminate and overreaching the paired petals, the lateral petals are very blunt, the saccate cavity is longer;
Regardfully
your
Ferd. von Mueller.
Hybanthus debilissimus
Hybanthus filiformis
Hybanthus filiformis var Tatei
M appears to have been uncertain of the systematic rank of the specimen; see n. 2 to M to R. Tate, 28 November 1881.
Professor?
The sheet MEL 27025 has an undated note by Tate on University of Adelaide headed paper: 'My Dear Baron | May I have your determination of the enclosed | Hybanthus filiformis? | Wilpena Pound'.
i.e. from Wilpena Pound in the Flinders Ranges, SA. Tate (1882b), p. 102, gives the authority for the name Hybanthus Tatei as 'F. v. Mueller, M.S.'. The specimen at Adelaide, AD 98918057, is dated 'November 17/81'. K 327728, labelled by Tate 'Hybanthus Tatei, F v. M.', evidently sent by Tate to Kew in July 1884, is also dated 17 November 1881, from Wilpena Pound.
MEL 27023 has two of M's labels, 'Hybanthus filiformis F.v.M var tatei Wilpena Nov 1881 Prof Tate' and 'Hybanthus tateia F.v.M Wilpena Prof Tate Nov 1881', and is accompanied by R. Tate to M, 3 December 1881, which evidently crossed in the mail with this letter of M's.
yours?
Please cite as “FVM-81-11-29,” 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