To William Thiselton-Dyer1    23 May 1888

23/5/88.

 

My principal reason for writing this time, dear Prof Dyer, is to say, that Mr Frogatt,2 who was Entomologist to Capt Everill's New Guinea Expedition, and who has since been engaged by the Hon. Will Macleay for collecting Insects in NW. Australia, brings you — while on a first Visit to Europe — an only plant3 in my possession (indeed any where existing in cuture here) of Telopea oreades.4 I am not certain, whether you have T. truncata,5 but anyhow that plant is quite distinct from T. oreades, I have studied both in their native haunts6 though both are more closely cognate than to T. speciosissima. Both would delight in mild frosts, so that with shelter from wind and some slight cover they could be kept likely in the open air of the Channel-Islands and even perhaps at Kew As this unique specimen was however carried 200 miles from the Highlands of East Gippsland (packed in Moss) by hand, and as I established it in its pot for more than 6 months, it is too valuable to be trusted out at Kew. What a glorious sight it will be one day there, to have both these hardy Telopeas along with Dracophyllum Milligani7 and Richea pandanifolia in the open garden! Mr Frogatt will bestow every care on the plant; but still it will have to pass the ordeal of the Red Sea. I have planted out here a shrub of red flowered Correa Lawrenciana; perhaps it will be of avail to put a cutting into the Telopea pot.8

Regardfully your

Ferd von Mueller.

 

I wrote lately again to Sir Joseph about the likelihood of Chenolea hirsuta existing on the British coast.9 It is easily missed, as from its specific name you would look for a plant with some vestiture, whereas frequently it is almost as glabrous as Suaeda maritima. I think Scirpus radicans (not always true to the character of its specific name) & Juncus Tenagiea ought also to turn up in Britain.10

Your important "Bulletins" will be duely noted in the new Edition of the "Select plants".11

 

Chenolea hirsuta

Correa Lawrenciana

Dracophyllum Milligani

Juncus tenagiea

Richea pandanifolia

Scirpus radicans

Suaeda maritima

Telopea oreades

Telopea speciosissima

Telopea truncata

 
1
Date stamped: Royal Gardens Kew 27. Jun. 88. Annotated in ink at top left of page 371-1888, and(by Thiselton-Dyer?): Thanked 10.7.88. (letter not found).
2
Froggatt?
3
plant underlined in red pencil. The specimen was noted as having been brought by Walter Froggatt (Kew Inwards Book, 1888-1892, July 2, p. 65, entry number 371), with an added note in red ink ‘Dead Aug. 88’.
4
Telopea oreades underlined in red pencil. Annotations in ink : Recd. 2.viii. 88 in left margin, andSeeds also were recd. June 30-88 from Mr Maiden Techn. Mus. Sydney at foot of f. 252, front .
5
Annotation in red pencil interlined below Truncata : Yes.
6
I have … haunts is a marginal note with intended position indicated by an asterisk .
7
Dracophyllum Milligani underlined in red pencil and annotation in red pencil interlined below Milligani : what is this?
8
Annotation in red pencil after pot : not found.
9
See M to J. Hooker, 25 April 1888 .
10
Postscript continues into left margin, f. 253, back.
11
Paragraph in left margin, f. 253, front. Thiselton-Dyer began the Bulletin of miscellaneous information in January 1887; the Bulletin was among the sources listed in B88.12.01, p. v.

Please cite as “FVM-88-05-23,” 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 26 April 2024, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/vonmueller/letters/88-05-23