To William Thiselton-Dyer   30 May 1888

30/5/881

 

Should experiments have shown, dear Mr Dyer, that Acacia decurrens, A. mollissima and A dealbata are hardy in the Channel Islands, would then on poor ground there Wattle-Culture perhaps become thrifty? Very possibly you would gain thus there quicker tan-bark of superior strenght than any other now obtained.

Regardfully

your

Ferd. von Mueller.

 

Does Dichondra not occur in British India?2

Persea (Sensu Bentham) has just been discovered in Australia.

I think that some of the Rubies of Australia are Garnets (Granaten) What Mr Gregory and myself found on Hooker's and Sturt's Creek in 1856,3 we regarded as Garnets of superior quality; thus they were mentioned in the diaries of ours.4

Perhaps I never thanked you for the sending of the last icones5 The copy from Dulau I distribute into the set of arranged plates.

 

Acacia dealbata

Acacia decurrens

Acacia mollissima

Dichondra

Persea

1

Date stamped: Royal Gardens Kew 7. Jul. 88.

Annotation by Thiselton-Dyer: And 10.7.88 (letter not found).

2
Does Dichondra not occur in British India? is marked with a red pencil line in the margin, and annotated in pencil by Daniel Oliver at the botom of the sheet : I see that Wallich got it on the Taong-dong (Ava) and there is a specimen laid in "East Indies" in Sir W Hooker's hand — on an Australian sheet. No clear evidence as to British India. Taong-dong and Ava are in Myanmar (Burma).
3
During the North Australian Exploring Expedition.
4
M's exploration diary has not been found; no mention of gemstones is made in Gregory (1858) for January to March 1856, when the party was exploring the area around Hooker and Sturt Creeks.
5
i.e. Hooker’s Icones plantarum .

Please cite as “FVM-88-05-30a,” 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 19 April 2024, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/vonmueller/letters/88-05-30a