17/12/86.
It was very kind of you, dear Dr Ramsay, to introduce Mr Bevan to me, who seems zealous for researches, and may thus also become useful for my branch of science, in New Guinea. It is also very good of you, to send me the specimen of a Vaccinium from the highest mountain of Hawaia.1 This species is quite distinct from V. penduliflorum of the Hawaian Group, but it may have been described from Gustave Mann's or Dr Hillebrand's or Dr Wawra's collections; I will hunt up the litterature in this respect.
I take this opportunity to mention, that I am inclined, to found a new genus on the Claudea Bennettiana; I do not think it congeneric with C. elegans, nor does it fit well into Vanvorstia.2 Some time ago I mentioned this view of mine to Agardh and to Schmitz, that I liked to dedicate the genus to the late Dr Sonder, who is so leadinly3 identified with the Algology of Australia, and who was for nearly 40 years my most intimate friend among Scientists in Europe,4 his last letter written in life was to me, 3 days before his death; so the finding of Keramidia and other organs of reproduction will be all the more important.
Wishing you and those dear to you a happy Christmas and joyful new year,
your
Ferd. von Mueller
Claudea Bennettiana
Claudea elegans
Vaccinium penduliflorum
Vanvorstia
Please cite as “FVM-86-12-17a,” 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