14/10/88.
Allow me, dear Prof. Watson, to draw your attention to the fact, that — (as you will soon see in the Key to the syst. of Vict. pl.1) the Jussieua, called by Mr. Bentham J. repens in the Flora Austral.2 is the J. diffusa of Forskael,3 as I have found out. It differs from the S. Asiatic J. repens L. in smaller flowers, in petals entirely yellow not largely white, in only diminutive natatory apparatus and in some other particulars.
Now in all probability the W. American floating Jussieua is also identical with the African not the Asiatic species. So it would be of interest, to reinvestigate this subject, for which you have probably ample material there. When at the Murray-River4 in 1848 I saw already, that the Austr. sp. could not be identical with the Indian, and gave it then the temporary name J. australis, under which it was distributed in my earlier collections.5
Please remember me to the excellent Profs Trelease & Sargent.
Regardfully your
Ferd. von Mueller.
Did you see the proof-slips of the Key,6 regularly sent to your Department or rather our lamented friend Asa Gray, and after his death to Prof. Sargent.
Jussieua australis
Jussieua diffusa
Jussieua repens
B88.11.02, p. 254.
Bentham (1863-78), vol. 3, p. 306.
Forsskål.
SA.
MEL 2208441 was collected by M in SA, 'Fluitans in fl. Murray haud procula Mount Beevor' [Floating in the Murray River not far from Mount Beevor] in February 1848, M's label from that time naming it as J. australasica. A later label of M's identifies it as J. diffusa.
B86.04.05 (pt. 2) and B88.11.02 (pt. 1).
Please cite as “FVM-88-10-14,” 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