5/4/89
Herewith the names of your Eucapypts,1 dear Mr Deane, so far as I can judge in the absense of expanded flowers. I hope, you will be able, to follow up the perhaps new grey Gum Euc. from Maneroo.2 Species cannot be defined from the nature of the wood alone; thus in Britain the Oak, the Elm & others are variable; in W. Austr 3 marked varieties of timber from Euc. marginata are distinguished, in Victoria two of E. Leucoxylon, of E. amygdalina, and so it is in other parts of Australia and indeed in all other parts of the world. Where no marked differences in flower and fruit with constancy accompany the characteristics of the wood, we can only have varieties, never true species.
This is the best season for raking methodically swamps, lagoons and river-bends for floating or submerged plants, even the smallest.
Regardfully
your
Ferd. von Mueller.
Eucalyptus amygdalina
Eucalyptus leucoxylon
Eucalyptus marginata
Please cite as “FVM-89-04-05b,” 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