To William Thiselton-Dyer   13 April 1884

Easter 1884.1

 

Herewith, dear Mr Dyer, the fresh seeds of Byblis gigantea,2 one of the grandest of droseraceous plants and one of the most glittering. It is a magnificent floral object, just as if studded all over with diamonds. Try it in pure sandwet, also in sand with some admixture of turf.

The seed is not readily got. It is a splendid plant to experiment on as regards assimilation of fleshy substances3 [...] and feverish4

 

Byblis gigantea

Easter day 1884 was 13 April.
There is a small cross adjacent to 'gigantea'.
See Darwin (1875), pp. 343-4.
The rest of the letter has not been found. ‘Portion of letter’ is written in red pencil in an unknown hand in the space between 'substances' and 'and feverish.' A diagonal line after 'and feverish' indicates that it is interlined and intended for the line below, which except for the partial ascenders of some letters, is missing.

Please cite as “FVM-84-04-13,” 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 29 March 2024, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/vonmueller/letters/84-04-13