7/10/89
Sendings from a place like yours,1 dear Madam, are always welcome, but I miss the real gems, minute plants.
The plant, of which you found only one specimen, the one with lobed leaves and long narrow (string like) pods is new to me as Australian.2 It may however be merely an introduced South European weed, as a plant not unlike this, grows near the Mediterranean shores. To make sure, what it is, a specimen with ripe seed-vessels needs to be got later in the season. Did you find the plant near a garden?
Regardfully
your
Ferd. von Mueller
The address given with the details of provenance, namely Mornington, Vic, is the address at which Murphy resided as a widow, and may not be the address from which she corresponded with M. In 1878 she had married James Murphy, grazier, of Calga Station near Coonamble, NSW, but that lease was sold c. 1882 and her residence in 1889 has not been identified. When her husband died in 1896 while in England, their residence was given as "Marina", St Kilda, Vic. ('Passing of a Pioneer', Frankston and Somerville standard, 26 September 1924; Vic death certificate, 11399/19240; 'The Quanda stud', Sydney mail and New South Wales advertiser, 26 May 1909; James Murphy death notice, Sydney morning herald, 6 May 1896, p. 1).
The species has not been identified; no specimens from J. Murphy or Mrs Murphy in the 19th century are listed in MEL (AVH, accessed 7 January 2025).
The text given here is published courtesy of Douglas Stewart Fine Books, Melbourne, which advertised the letter for sale on its website, as item number 45912, in January 2025. The advertisement included photographic images of both sides of the original letter. The correspondent is identified by the book seller based on the letter's provenance, its having been extracted from an autograph album compiled by the recipient.
Please cite as “FVM-89-10-07,” 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