To William Thiselton-Dyer   5 April 1885

Easter 18851

 

I am glad, dear Mr Dyer, that the previous notices, concerning Asplenium Robinsonii,2 were found out by the excellent Mr Baker. Lately a Sydney-plant dealer removed three of the five individual plants known in Norfolk-Island, and probably soon the rest will be carried off also, so that this species will then only be known — and that too but very sparingly and precariously — in cultivation. Would it be possible, to figure such an extremely local plant in the Bot. Magazine?3 Then information could also be given, whether the fronds stand circularly or singly &c from your living plant. The specimen of fronds sent to Kew, differed slightly in shape from the one only just received.4

The arrangements are now completed, to send you one or two stems of Xanthorrhoea australis,5 as desired; - the cool season having now set in again. These stems, fresh from their native ground, will be despatched in the course of this month. I have written also to W. A., urging stems to be sent to Kew of Xanthorrhoea Preissii at once at this favorable season, so that they could be under glass at Kew before the cold weather sets in; if they should push leaves anew by next Easter, the plants could be placed on loan into the W.A. Court during the Colonial Exhibition6 as a sort of “quid pro quo” for the expense, which that sending would incur.7

Regardfully yours

Ferd von Mueller

 

How did you get on with the many stems of Dicksonia Billardierii8

 

Asplenium Robinsonii

Dicksonia Billardierii

Xanthorrhoea australis

Xanthorrhoea Preissii

1
In 1885 Easter Day was 5 April. MS annotation by [Thiselton-Dyer?]: 'A. squamulatum B. Smithii | Hook. Sp. Fil. iii, 83'.
2
Asplenium Robinsonii is underlined in blue pencil.See M to W. Thiselton-Dyer, 25 January 1885 (in this edition as 85-01-25a).
3
Would it … Magazine is marked with three blue pencil lines in the margin.No illustration was published in Curtis’s Botanical Magazineby 1890.
4
The text is crowded and interlined; a possible alternate reading is 'from the only one just received'.
5
Xanthorrhoea australis is underlined in red pencil. See M to W. Thiselton-Dyer, 25 January 1885, and M to J. Hooker, 24 April 1885.
6
Colonial and Indian Exhibition, London, 1886.
7

On the back of f. 141 two pieces of paper have been pasted. The uppermost, cream-coloured, contains the following text in ink:Xanthorrhoea quadrangulata, F. Muell. | S. Australia | Entry 271-1883 | Melbourne | Came as X. australis | see letter 24-IV-85.

The lower paper, blue, has the following text in lead pencil in an unidentified hand: Clearly X. quadrangulata. | Australis is a plant of Victoria & Tasmania quadrangulata of South Australia. Thiselton-Dyer added in purple pencil:Wrote 6.2.86. [Letter not found.]

8
Dicksonia Billardierei?

Please cite as “FVM-85-04-05,” 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 25 April 2024, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/vonmueller/letters/85-04-05