To William Thiselton-Dyer   2 October 1886

2/10/86.1

 

It devolves on me again, dear Mr Dyer, to offer my grateful acknowledgement for an other act of generosity, experienced in my Department from the great Kew-Establishment. The new contribution of dried specimens is most valuable,2 as it contains so many rarities, and as the plants come from so many places little accessible to Naturalists. The series of Japanese botanical illustrations will also have a lasting value for critical research.3 I am much beholden to Sir Graham Berry for kindly effecting the transit, and now enclose a letter of thanks to the hon. Gentleman.4 Your wish for completing the series of typical Australian plants, described since the elaboration of the Flora Australiensis, for Kew will be attended to in a few months, though to my mind the reason would not be to vindicate the correctness of the descriptions, as the nearly 1000 Australian spec. added to those, described by Bentham, have been elaborated with scrupulous care and on most conservative principles. Those plants should however be available at Kew, to complete the display of species there, and to help representing5 the geographic distribution. My own aim has always been, when bringing new specific forms under notice, that the descriptions should be such, if the material was complete, as to render the plants recognizable without reference to original specimens.6 The very few people, engaged in this establishment of mine, are taking now successively the 3 weeks annual furlong,7 granted by the Government here, and thus I shall be shorthanded in all the branches of the service til after New Year; if possible I will however make up the wanting or completing series for Kew as early as ever possible[.] I may not write much for the next three months, as I have been urged, to complete as early as possible the labourious task of furnishing the “Key to the system of Victorian plants”8 according to Lamarck’s method, the dichotomous arrangement being as difficult as unsatisfactory.9 I have not heard of young Mr Hooker lately;10 but will try to see him soon, though my time is so occupied and my health so fluctuating.

Regardfully your

Ferd von Mueller11

 

The Todea can best be dragged out of the deep ravine towards Easter, when the rivulets are low and the forest soil gets dry; the fern then will also arrive in the warm season at Kew. The specimen in the Exhibition is a private contribution12 one of mine; but perhaps is best left there, as doubtless a permanent Museum will arise out of this exhibition.13

I have written to Prof. Luerssen, asking, to send fragments of the Papuan ferns to Kew.14

Mr Baker does not say, where the Selaginella & Hymenophyllum of which he gave the appro[xi]mative names, came from; I forgot; was it N Queensland or New Guinea?15

The Selaginella he referred to Parviflora, the little Trichomanes he left unnamed.16

 

Hymenophyllum

Selaginella Parviflora

Todea

Trichomanes

Stamped to left of date: Royal Botanic Gardens Kew Recd. 15 NOV. 86

Annotated in pencil beneath stamp: D. O. √.

See note 4 to M to W. Thiselton-Dyer, 2 May 1886.
Yokusai et al ., (1874).
Letter not found.
'help' interlined; 'ing' added at end of represent.
There is a faint vertical line in ink in the left margin next to ‘as to render . . . original specimens.’
furlough?
B88.11.02.
See Lucas, Maroske & Brown-May (2006).
Brian Hooker.
The valediction is at the bottom of the page. The postscript is on a separate sheet, filed as f. 201, also stamped 'Royal Botanic Gardens Kew. Recd, 15. NOV. 86', hence it is treated as part of this letter.
contribution interlined.
See Colonial and Indian Exhibition, London (1886), p. 204: Class 63, ‘Species of Plants and Examples of Culture’ includes 'MUELLER, BARON F. VON, M & Ph. D., F.R.S., Government Botanist, Botanical Museum, Melbourne—(1) A todea-fern (Osmunda barabara, Thunberg) weighing approximately 4000 lbs’. The description of M does not suggest that this was a private specimen.
Letter not found.
There are vertical blue pencil lines in the central margin, f. 201 back, next to ‘I forgot ... unnamed’ and Baker's annotation (see below) below M's text. See notes to M to W. Thiselton-Dyer, 22 June 1886.

Annotated by J. G. Baker on the bottom of f. 201 back, right-hand page:

Received Aug. 1886

Selaginella proniflora Baker (not parviflora) Endeavour River

Trichomanes

Trinity Bay. Coll Say[er], is I think a new species allied to vitiense

over

on otherwise blank left hand page front of f. 201: Will you give it a name? | J G B.

We read the annotations as a draft for Thiselton-Dyer’s reply to M’s letter. Baker later described Trichomanes sayeri under his and M’s authorship in Baker (1891), p. 15. It is said to be from ‘Trinity Bay, Queensland’, and collected by ‘Sayer’. This was later determined to be the same as Gymnogramma sayeri described by M and Baker from Mt. Bellenden Ker in B87.14.01, p. 15. It is not clear which of the two descriptions was based on the specimen sent in 1886, as both would have been collected by Sayer.


Please cite as “FVM-86-10-02b,” 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 28 March 2024, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/vonmueller/letters/86-10-02b