From Frederick Bailey   11 June 1887

Brisbane

June 11th 1887

Dear Baron

I am afraid Grevillea pinnatifida would prove too tender to thrive in the South and indeed I do not think Grevillea robusta adapted for street planting it is far too short lived. do you not find our Brisbane Box Tristania conferta a useful plant for the purpose? It thrives on poor soil and stands exposure and affords a good shade. I saw Eaves the other day and reminded him of the Melaleuca seed1 for which I have your pound (£1) and he has promised to collect it the first opportunity he tells me that he had it collected once but his people destroyed it with a lot of rubbish. I am sorry you have been kept out of it so long

yours very truly

F. M. Bailey

 

I enclose a few specimens which I fancy are new I received them amongst others from Musgrave2 from an old correspendent the specimens are not very good but probably you have better from the same part from your collector3 One seems near Pleogyne cunninghamii Miers but I have only your account of that plant in Fragmenta4

the others are a new Spermacoce5 and a probably new Teucrium

 

Grevillea pinnatifida

Grevillea robusta

Tristania conferta

Melaleuca

Pleogyne cunninghamii

Spermacoce

Teucrium

 
1
See F. Bailey to M, 26 November 1886.
2
Cape York Peninsula, north Qld.
3
W. A. Persieh replaced Karsten as M's collector in North Queensland in around 1881, and continued to collect for him until he left to work for the German New Guinea Company in 1887.
4
B75.07.01, p. 82.
5
Bailey (1891a), p. 13, named both Spermacoce jacobsonii and S. uniseta from specimens collected by George Jacobson at Musgrave, Qld. There is a single specimen of each in Melbourne, MEL 0104324 and MEL 0104330, each undated but attributed to Jacobson as collector.

Please cite as “FVM-87-06-11a,” 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 29 April 2024, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/vonmueller/letters/87-06-11a