29/3/88
Herewith, dear Mr Ridley, I beg to send you fragments of two Papuan orchids, taken from plants in the horticultural Establishment of Mr Benj. Gulliver of Townsville, after whom I should like one to be named, the large-flowered Spec. of Dendrobium seemingly being new.1 But as I am trying to bring the difficult “Key”2 to a speedy conclusion, I shall have no leisure to enter on a critical examination of these spec. Dendrobium so send them to you, who has gained the most recent experience on them. This will give you also an opportunity, to set right the nomenclature of Dendrobium Johnsoniae and D. Macfarlanei, as described by myself.3
I hope you will be able to give Mr Forbes a generic list of his plants; that is really all he wants for his volume of travels. He will have seen a Vitis named by Planchon after him, from a specimen forwarded by me to Montpellier4 - Radlkofer can furnish the names of his Sapindaceae; he had them all long ago. I will soon do something to a portion of the Dicotyledones.
Let me hope that Mr Britten will deal generously and unprejudiced by mere […]5 with my Key in reviewing it; the explanatory essay will likely appear in May. 6 You know of course that all other languages have the diminutive for flower heads. Ovulary is better than germen, ovary absolutely incorrect. Beak, wings, head, claws, palate, throat, vagina, abortion, spur, mouth, ear, chin, beard, lips &c should be restricted to zoologic organography
Ever regardfully your
Ferd von Mueller.
Best compl. to Mr Carruthers.7
Please publish the Dendrobium if new, in Mr Brittens journal8
Dendrobium Johnsoniae
Dendrobium Macfarlanei
Dicotyledoneae
Sapindaceae
Vitis
Please cite as “FVM-88-03-29,” 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 16 April 2024, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/vonmueller/letters/88-03-29