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.8 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
The date M wrote is inconsistent with the content of the letter, and the letter is dated to 15 December 1884 on the basis of the details about the meetings that M discusses: see n. 9 below.
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 (in this edition as 84-08-31a).
L. phlegmarioides? See M to J. Hooker, 28 July 1884, and notes thereto.
Freycinet (1826–30). The 'Atlas' volume is Histoire Naturelle: Botanic; Planches (1826).
Sauravia is underlined in blue pencil. Saurauia?
M's herbarium label on the specimen K000761751 is completed in another hand with the name 'Dillenia Andreana F. Von Mueller' and the collecting location. It 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: 'Amongst the specimens recd. [latterly] is 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.'
M is evidently reacting to being told of the attribution in a letter, not found, that must have been sent by the end of October.
discovery is underlined in blue pencil.
at which ... preside is written in the central margin of the MS, its position in the text indicated by asterisks.
The meeting of the Victorian Branch of the Royal Geographical Society of Australasia was held on 16 December, with Sir Edward Strickland and four other delegates from NSW also present. The 'first Australasian Geographical Conference, comprising representatives of the New South Wales and Victorian branches of the Geographical Society' began on 17 December (Argus, 17 December 1884, p. 8; Argus, 18 December 1884, p. 6).
Annotated in black pencil: D. O. [V] [= Daniel Oliver: Vide [i.e. see]?].
Please cite as “FVM-84-12-15a,” 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