16/5/83.
I have to bring under your cognisance, dear Prof. Tepper,1 a very interesting addition to the S.A. Flora, hitherto unrecorded. It is Calocephalus Drummondi, found by Mr Tepper already 1879 in Yorke's peninsula. During the two Exhibition-years,2 when so much other work had to be laid aside, these specimens of the S.A. locality were left unexamined, but received attention, while I had to work on other Angiantheae recently.3 I drew Mr Tepper's attention particularly to the desirability of securing minute annuals in his district then, and I feel persuaded, that many other of the very small herbs of W.A will yet be found to extend far into S.A.4
Among Mr T's specimen only one is well developed; so I send you some, collected by myself in W.A many years ago.5 The identity of the W.A and S.A. plant is complete.
Regardfully your
Ferd. von Mueller.
Angiantheae
Calocephalus Drummondi
M's error, he was writing to Tate as the next sentence shows. M also reported this 'particularly noteworthy' species in M to O. Tepper, 16 May 1883.
i.e. International Exhibition, Sydney, 1879-80, and International Exhibition, Melbourne, 1880-1.
B83.05.02? See also M to R. Tate, 13 May 1883 (in this edition as 83-05-13a).
No letter from M to Tepper in 1879 explicitly mentioning searching for minute plants has been found, but M to O. Tepper, 11 October 1879, enclosed a copy of a circular, presumably M to Australian newspapers, April 1876 (in this edition as 76-04-00), which had been republished in a number of newspapers including the Evening journal (Adelaide), 8 May 1876, p. 2 (B76.05.06). The circular emphasised that common and insignificant plants should be included and gave specific directions about collecting small plants.
Receipt acknowledged in R. Tate to M, 22 May 1883 (in this edition as 83-05-22a).
Please cite as “FVM-83-05-16a,” 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