Sale1
Mch 2 /89
Dear Baron
You will remember my writing to you about an Eucalypt which grows extensively about Dargo, Omeo & generally on the mountain plateau and which in spite of its peculiar young form I cannot place with any type but that of E. Viminalis.2 I now find that South of Morwell it grows as the principal forest tree together with E. Pauciflora — thus maintaining the same companionship which occurs in the mountains. E. Amygdalina (the narrow leaved common variety) also grows there with a few rare examples of E. Stuarteana3 of the common type. In the river valley (Morwell River) the ordinary form of E. Viminalis occurs.
The tree to which I now refer as growing here as well as in the mountains, has precisely the same characters as those of similar Eucalypts at Omeo. The bark decortates almost to the ground leaving the tree smooth and white — occasionally the bark before peeling off has a characteristic smooth reddish or coppery cast. The young seedlings very much resemble those of E pulverulenta as do the saplings up to say 5 ft in height. More so than they do those of E. Stuarteana. This tree as at Omeo &c is the "Manna Gum". In the season the supply of manna in "crumb" is most plentiful.
yours faithfully
A W Howitt
Eucalyptus Amygdalina
Eucalyptus Pauciflora
Eucalyptus pulverulenta
Eucalyptus Stuarteana
Eucalyptus Viminalis
All places mentioned are Vic.
Letter not found; the description of the bark is quite dissimilar to that of another species from near Dargo that was unhestitatingly referred to E. gunnii in A. Howitt to M, 8 February 1889.
E. stuartiana?
MS found with a specimen of Eucalyptus rubida (MEL 706375), from Morwell River, Vic.
Please cite as “FVM-89-03-02a,” 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