To Joseph Hooker   6 November 1884

6/11/841

 

I notice, dear Sir Joseph, that I overlooked the description of Dendrobium Gordonii as given by Mr Moore in the L.S. Journal for 188[3].2 I am so short of space in my poor place, that it is impossible to keep the litterary material together. I feel obliged for the information about Lycopodium phlegmaroides;3 I had forgotten about it, though I have the large Atlas4 since 2[3] years and all the other French Naval Expedit. works. My not recognizing the Sauravia5 must not be judged too harshly; had I had fruit, I would have found it out; of course I am not very familiar with all kinds of Indian plants, as I was never in any part of South Asia.

Since I had the Sauravia first, I never got any more of it, so it never came before me again; though my attention was lately more particularly directed to that genus by the discovery6 of several species in New Caledonia. Tomorrow we have our quaterly meeting of the geographic Society; at which I shall have to preside7 and it will be followed by a geogr. Conference, for which Sir Edw Strickland K.C.B. and other delegates have arrived from Sydney. I have thus little time for correspondence this moment and will write more fully by next mail.

Regardfully

your

Ferd. von Mueller.

 

I will be happy to subscribe to the Bentham Memorial at the L.S. What ought in your opinion my subscription to be? Why not devote the fund for a Bentham Medal?

 

Dendrobium Gordonii

Lycopodium phlegmaroides

Sauravia

1
Annotated in black pencil: D. O. [V…] [ = ’Daniel Oliver: see’].
2
The numeral has been overwritten.The reference is to S. Le M. Moore in Baker (1883), p. 372. See M to J Hooker, 9 July 1884 (in this edition as 84-07-09a), and J Hooker to M, 31 August 1884.
3
L. phlegmarioides? See M to J. Hooker, 28 July 1884, and notes thereto.
4
Freycinet (1826–30). The ‘Atlas’ volume is Histoire Naturelle: Botanic; Planches (1826).
5

Sauravia is underlined in blue pencil. Saurauia?

The label on the specimen at Kew (K000761751) is annotated 'recd. 7/1884'. The specimen was probably included among those sent with M to J. Hooker, 1 June 1884, in response to a list of items described by M but not present in the Kew collection (see M to W. Thiselton-Dyer, 10 January 1884 [in this edition as 84-01-10a]). Daniel Oliver was responsible for adding these specimens to the collection, and in a memorandum 'For F. v. Mueller' of [?] October 1884 he wrote: '[Except] the specimen recd. [latterly] is [error for 'as'?] Dillenia Andreana, F.v.M. (Fragm. Fl Austr. V. 175). This is no doubt a Saurauja & the first representative of Ternströmiaceae noted in Australia — so far as I know. — I have [not inserted in pencil in another hand] precisely identified the species but it is near S. Blumeana.'

APNI treats S. andreana as authored by 'Oliv. ex F.Muell.', citing Bailey (1886), p. 7; Bailey has 'S. Andreana, Oliver (inedited)', and ends his description with 'Kindly furnished by Baron Mueller for this work.'

M was presumably told of the mis-attribution in a letter, not found, in very early October for him to have reacted to it in this letter.

6
discovery is underlined in blue pencil.
7
at which ... preside is written in the central margin of the MS, its position in the text indicated by asterisks.

Please cite as “FVM-84-11-06,” 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 9 May 2024, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/vonmueller/letters/84-11-06