This magnificent and comparatively hardy plant is almost confined to Eastern Gippsland, passing — so far as known — only into the most southern part of New South Wales, it having been found by Mr. W. Baeuerlen at an elevation of about 3,500 feet at the southern sources of the Shoalhaven River.1 During a recent tour of some members of the Victorian Field Naturalists' Club, undertaken at the suggestion of the writer,2 Mr. Charles French3 saw exceptionally fine trees, 60 feet high, with a considerable stem diameter. Mr. James Stirling also saw trees in the valley of the Ben River4 fully 50 feet high. This superb species descends to valleys with Dicksonia Billardieri, Alsophila australis, and Senecio Bedfordi, as does Telopea truncata in Tasmania, from which species it is quite distinct in its always glabrous bracts, and some differences in the leaves and seeds. T. oreades was discovered in 18605 in the highlands at the sources of the Genoa, where some snow lies during the winter months, the elevation being about 4000 feet. What a splendid acquisition this plant would be in mild regions of England for outdoor culture.
F. v. M.
Alsophila australis
Dicksonia Billardieri
Senecio Bedfordi
Telopea oreades
Telopea truncata
NSW. At about the same time as this letter was written, M sought the advice of members of the Linnean Society of NSW on the exact distribution of another Telopea; see M to J. Fletcher, February 1889 (in this edition as 89-02-00b).
See Spencer & French (1889). The party left Melbourne on 29 December 1888 and returned on 22 January 1889.
Charles French Snr.
Error for Bemm River?
By M, see B61.11.04, p. 170.
Letter not found. The text given here is from 'Colonial notes. The Victorian Waratah (Telopea oreades)', Gardeners' chronicle, 23 March 1889, p, 371 (B89.03.01). It is dated to early February as the latest likely date that it could have been sent to have appeared in this issue.
Please cite as “FVM-89-02-00c,” 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