This little shrub1 yields the Muntries of the aborigines, and is one of the few really valuable fruit plants indigenous at the south coast of Australia. Indeed, the plant would be worthy of being naturalised on the shores of the Mediterranean Sea and elsewhere in mild coast regions. It prefers sandy calcareous soil. The fruits are of a peculiar acidulous aromatic taste, and very extensively collected by people settled on the coast for the purpose of jam making. As the plant has the charm of novelty to horticulturists perhaps it might be worthy of being illustrated in your famous Gardeners' Chronicle.2
, writes the Baron, is intercalated at this point.
The article continues with some comparative comments, and suggests that it 'might be readily introduced'. The caption of the figure describes it as a 'greenhouse shrub with edible purple fruit'. It is not clear whether M supplied the drawing on which the illustration is based, or whether it was based on a specimen sent to London.
Letter not found. The text given here is from 'A new fruit', Gardeners' chronicle, 16 February 1889, pp. 200-1 (B89.02.01). The letter, concerning Kunzea pomifera, is dated to December 1888 as the latest likely date that it could have been sent to have been published in this issue.
M's letter is introduced by discussion of the origins of cultivated fruit, suggesting that 'no doubt, our Australian kinsmen will turn to good account the Kunzea pomifera, of which, through the kindness of Baron Sir Ferdinand Mueller, we give an illustration (fig. 36)'.
Please cite as “FVM-88-12-00a,” 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