Melbourne,
20/3/87.
Herewith, honored Sir, I beg to send for your kind acceptance a few lithographic plates, illustrative of W.A. Acacias from an Atlas of these kind of plants,1 for which about 60 species are already lithographed, and in which the numerous species of your wide territory will also be largely contained. May I ask kindly to find out from flowering and fruiting specimens, whether it is the Acacia heteroclita, which yields about Geographe Bay and Cape Leewin2 the peculiar Gum, well known as different from the ordinary Acacia Gum of W.A. I should like to know this for the new edition of my select plants.3
Altho Cape Leewin was discovered and named, as you will be aware, already in 1622, the vegetation of the vicinity is even now only imperfectly known.
For my work on the Australian Acacias my material is also yet very incomplete, particularly as regards the far eastern species, of many of which I have flowering but not fruiting specimens, and until the latter are gradually acquired, they cannot be treated in the Atlas. Indeed collections of all sorts of plants even the minutest weeds, rushes, aquatics &c are particularly wanted from your far eastern districts, not so much for actual novelty, but for tracing the distribution of the species. I am thankful for all the aid, already afforded by the survey-department, — and if the eastern settlers would all give a little local help, great strides could be made for completing the elucidation of the W.A. Flora.
I am greatly beholden to you for allowing Mr King to furnish me with brief notes on the W.A. surveys of 1886 for my next presidential address;4 and I feel also much indebted to you for recommending for his Excellency's favorable consideration the joint Exploration by W.A. & S.A. of the country N.W. of Lake Amadeus.5 Should this not finally be carried out, it would still be a great advantage to W.A., if Mr Giles's services were secured for one of the far inland districts as Crownlands Commissioner, as by his connections and influence in the eastern colonies he could speed settlement much
Regardfully your
Ferd von Mueller
Is it not a pity, that a Gold-Medallist of the R.G.S. and a leading Australian Explorer should not be in his element again!, one who has done so much for W.A. particularly.
Acacia heteroclita
Please cite as “FVM-87-03-20,” 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 18 April 2024, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/vonmueller/letters/87-03-20