Dear Baron von Mueller
I have this afternoon received from a Mr. Hopkins who has returned from the Diamantina River1 the enclosed specimen he states that it is a remarkable and grand looking plant. the habit of the plant is a dwarf bush about 4 or 5 feet high unfortunatly he did not bring any leaves with him. it has a small pod with seeds about one third the size of Barkly syringifolia.2 should it prove new will you kindly name it after Mr. Hopkins.3
Mr. Fitzalan the specimens he sent was not with the sending to you —
Barkly syringifolia
Qld.
Barklya syringifolia?
From the references to the Diamantina River and 'Fitzalan', if, as seems likely, this was Eugene Fitzalan, it would appear that the writer of the MS was also in Qld at the time. If the MS is attached to the right specimen — and the description given of the plant is consistent with the appearance of Crotolaria cunninghamii — Hopkins must have collected this in WA some time earlier. No species named to honour Hopkins has been found (APNI, accessed 14 February 2023).
MS comprising two small pieces of paper is attached to the specimen folder of a WA specimen identified in M's hand on a label of the Phytologic Museum of Melbourne as 'Crotalaria cunninghami R.Br. | between Gascoyne R. & C. Farquhar | Survey Exped. | 1883'.
Please cite as “FVM-83-00-00,” 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